Paul and I have known each other for 17 years and we have been ‘an item’ for seven years. He’s my best friend, my lover and my soul mate and I would be lost without him. For years, I hinted that I would ‘marry him tomorrow!’ but decided that maybe we would just live in sin for the rest of our lives as the hints never got me anywhere.
On Friday 4 March, I arrived home after a long drive down from Darlington where I had been with my job and made myself a cuppa and plonked myself down on the sofa to have a scan through the mail. Paul was nowhere to be seen but he rang to say that he was at his mom and dad’s and would be home soon (good, I thought, we had friends coming to dinner and he could help!).
He arrived home saying that he was freezing and that he was off upstairs to get a jumper on. Once he’d done that he was in and out of the lounge like a yo-yo and this was making me feel quite dizzy! I asked him to come over and give me a hug as I had missed him and when he sat on the arm of the chair I rested my head against his chest and it became clear there was a problem… his heart was going like the clappers, which made me wonder whether he was about to pop his clogs or that all of a sudden he had become so unfit that a run up the stairs was clearly too much for him. I asked him what was wrong and he said nothing but he seemed nervous.
He finally put me out of my misery as he disappeared once again out of the lounge and quickly returned with a big smile on his face.
He stood in front of me and said "I just can’t wait anymore, (got down on one knee) will you do me the honour, will you marry me?’ I was stunned, romance WAS NOT DEAD. My answer, of course, was yes and we laughed and we kissed and then, I remembered that he had handed me a box, I opened it and it was a lovely diamond ring that I would have picked myself so I was doubly impressed.
I was straight on the phone to my mom and asked her to pop round as I had something to show her. When she turned up (and after I had listened for ten minutes to her regaling me with stories of my barmy nan), I finally put my hand on the table and showed her my sparkler. She cried! I rang my dad and he was over the moon and so was my barmy nan and my other nan.
Suffice to say that our friends came to dinner and it was a proper celebration.
We are now planning a Greek wedding in Crete in June 2006 and a party when we get back.
