The Proposal

So Facebook says I'm engaged.  It must be true.  It is true.  Thank goodness.  I am one lucky guy.  So family, friends, how did this all happen?  I decided to dedicate this post to telling the story about how I proposed to Merilee.  I do so fully aware that it will probably fail in it's purpose of reducing the number of times I will be asked to recount it.  I don't mind though.  It's a story I love telling.  The best part is practicing my narration skills.  Shall I begin?  "It was a dark and stormy night..."

Actually, it was a gorgeous day.  I started by trying to call Merilee's dad.  Missouri is two hours ahead and I hadn't talked to him yet.  I had been trying the last day or two but had not been able to catch him at a time good for talking.  The poor man has been sifting through the ashes of his former home and I was trying to be patient yet persistent in having a legitimate conversation.  For chivalry to be appeased, I had to, as they say, "slay the dragon before entering in the Emerald City."  Well, that morning, he was working, so it still wasn't looking hopeful.  It turns out that he tutors.  Like me.


Our 30 second mini-conversations leading up to Saturday had done a good job at accumulating a thick layer of awkwardness.  I had interrupted him yet again that morning and he told me that he would call me back in five minutes.  I waited 20 minutes before I tried giving him another call, which went straight to voicemail.  I would find out later that he had actually said, or meant to say, "call me back in five minutes."  Oh well, I did eventually get a hold of him and got points for persistence in the process.

We started by going from building cleanup at the church to an art studio in Alamo.  It's called Color Bundles.  It's totes legit.  Merilee loves art and I've always wanted to see her work.  Since her house in Missouri burned down, I've been sad that I wont get to see all the art projects she did in college.  How it works at the studio is they sketch something for you, then they teach you how to paint it using acrylic paints.  With the lesson you actually learn how to paint instead of producing something that looks like something your 6 year old painted.  No offense Elizabeth.  I told them to sketch some sort of fruit platter for Merilee, and I sent them a picture of the two of us for them to sketch for me to paint.  Check them out.

 

So as you can see, Merilee is super talented.  I'll admit that I'm impressed with how well I did too, considering that it was my first time painting on canvas.

So one lesson Merilee and I learned from the date is that there is a law in the universe that prevents me from surprising her.  We walked into the studio and the canvases were set up so that we were across from each other and wouldn't be able to see each other's art.  She didn't know that what I had done.  It was going to be the perfect surprise.  It would have been, except she could see through the back of the printed out piece of paper hanging above my canvas.  You can see the same thing was done with hers.  It was disappointing, but I took some comfort knowing that she probably hadn't noticed the ring on her finger that I had the studio artist add.

So the two and a half hour lesson I paid for actually turned into five.  We didn't mind at all because it was actually super fun.  We were a bit hungry though.  We left our art at the studio so it could dry, and we drove down to Chipotle in Dublin.  The art had taken much longer than planned, but we were flexible.  We would soon discover how flexible we could be.

With earnest desires to scarf down a burrito, Merilee's favorite snack, we pulled into the Chipotle parking lot.  Right as I pulled into a spot, I heard the distinct sounds that a tire makes when it is flat.  Many have asked at this point in the story, "but was it a real flat?"  How do you fake a flat?  No, it was real.  Though I didn't feel grateful in the past when I had car issues, I was glad then to be able to show my man strength and change my tire in front of Merilee.  My composure during such a stressful situation probably even more deeply confirmed to her that she was with the right man.  Plus, my biceps increase in size when I'm doing hard labor, which I was confident would please her.

So I changed the tire and put on the donut.  It was flat.  So we got our Chipotle and walked to her house, which was a little over a mile from where we were.  It was a pleasant stroll.  The sun was out.  A light breeze kept me dry and played with Merilee's hair as she tried to stuff beef, rice, and beans into her mouth without chewing on her locks.  I decided to take advantage of the time and called Randy, her dad.  This time we got to have a real conversation so that was good.

As we arrived to her house to get her car, Merilee wanted to go inside and put away her left over burrito bowl.  I told her that it would be fine if we did it later.  She insisted on taking it inside, which I objected to.  I had enlisted her roommate to help prepare the apartment for the proposal that night, and going inside to put something in the fridge would ruin yet another surprise.  I said that I was hungry and might finish off her burrito bowl in the car.  She wasn't buying it.  I pretty much had to force her back into her car.  It was pretty obvious that there was something in her apartment.  Once again that eternal law held true.

We headed up to get our art.  I was still on the phone with Randy at the time.  We, got back to Chipotle, picked up my spare, took it over to Safeway, and filled it.  After putting it on for what felt like the 10th time,  I got in and the car wouldn't move without making a screeching noise.

At that point, I was done with my car for the day.  And I said "hey babe, lets go get some froyo."  So leaving the worries of my broken down car with a week full of classes and finals ahead of me, we went to Tutti Frutti, the froyo place we went to on our very first date.  Unfortunately it was a bit chilly to talk outside like we did that one summer night.  Instead, we sat on a very comfortable couch and talked about what we had enjoyed about the day.  We decided that we would watch Thor when we got home.  It was on netflix and Merilee still hadn't seen it.

We arrived back at her place and headed inside.  It had been a long day, but a really good day.  She knew what was coming next.  She knew she was getting proposed to that night.  She knew that her apartment was going to be decorated somehow when she walked in.  She knew what was on the painting I was about to reveal.  She knew everything.  The only surprise of that day had been the flat tire. 

We opened the door and there was a path of rose petals going from the door to the couch.  There were two dozen pink roses on the table with some fancy candles.  I sat her down across from me and unwrapped the painting.  The rest is all just some mushy stuff.  You know.  I just basically explained to her that the painting was a visual representation of what I want.  She makes me so happy, and I've never been more sure of anything in my entire life than what I want for us.  I got down on one knee, popped the question, and she said yes.  She said yes!  To celebrate I played a video I had queued of fireworks.  I just thought she deserved fireworks when she got engaged.  We made some phone calls and ended the night on a high note by watching Thor. 





Looking Forward. To Change.

Sunday Drive

I wish I had more callus.  On my fingers, so I could play the guitar better and with less pain, and on my feet, so I could run barefoot for more than 10 minutes without my feet starting to burn and blister.  It doesn't grow overnight, unfortunately.

So things have just been changing for me around here in the bay.  Last week, the Schulls packed up and left for Southern California.  The picture of the U-Haul wasn't theirs, but it was somebody's.  Man that does not look like fun.  Anyways, with the Schulls out of the area, things will definitely be different.  I will seriously miss the food but even more will I miss the people. 

Merilee's Favorite Goat

Paul and Melanie are getting ready to sell their house and move down there as well.  Paul says that he's excited to start a new adventure and I'm happy for him.  It's been a crazy ride up here in Dublin.  I can't imagine what it must feel like to be leaving this area after everything that's happened.  Exhilarating, because life certainly hasn't been easy here, but also sad because, well, change just feels sad sometimes.  I think.  Also, starting up in a new place, leaving the familiar for the unknown, it can all be a great cause for fear or excitement, or both.

Halloween

What's that on her finger?!

After Paul and Melanie go, I'm pretty much all that's left.  Mom went to Washington, Dad is gone, my sisters are in Utah, Mansur is off doing his thing, and now Paul is moving too.  Grandpa Ron and I will stick together for a while but I'm pretty sure he's just going to end up moving down to Southern California too.  Oh well, I gave up on him adopting me a long time ago anyways.  The only thing I got going for me so I don't end up totally alone is the fact that I'll have some new family in the area in July.  So that's pretty exciting.

Here's some fancy pictures in case some of you weren't at Dad's funeral and didn't meet Merilee.

A fox wearing a fox hat

Buried in twigs.

A Dream Come True

Yesterday I went from studying for my calculus exam to my nutrition class, then from my nutrition class to my calculus exam.  It was very disturbing to find that I had, during some part of that journey, misplaced my mechanical pencil.  I don't know why I was so bothered about it.  I think I've had that pencil since I started school at DVC in 2011, but I had never before felt any loyalty towards it.  Wilson!  I'm sorry, Wilson.

I borrowed someone else's pencil and the exam was the most brutal I can remember having.  My calculus exams are usually very difficult, especially considering how "prepared" I am for them.  I still end up getting A's somehow.  Anyways, here's hoping that it wasn't a disaster!  Part of me associated the missing pencil with my perceived performance on the test.  I knew they couldn't be linked but I still felt bad about it.  This morning I found the pencil closed inside the math book I was working out of before I went up to nutrition, just in time for my chemistry exam!

Enough about pencils.  Let's get real.  Time to talk about Ted.  For those of you who don't know, Ted is a coworker of mine.  He seems to be convinced that I am a homosexual, which I totally am, of course.  No really though, he wont hear anything to the contrary.  I think that even if Merilee visited me at work he would probably just assume that she's a really, really, convincing transvestite.  Now, there's a possibility that his conviction could be party my fault.  To be honest, it is my fault. 

It all started when someone put a naked mannequin in our back stock.  I covered it up because I thought it was awkward.  I also thought that if I was hanging out naked in the back stock, I'd probably feel pretty cold and want to be covered anyways.  I tried various times to cover it up between helping customers.  I used tech posters, dust rags, drawstring bags, etc. to make the mannequin more modest.  But as I became more creative in my efforts, Ted became more tenacious in his efforts to leave the mannequin exposed.  Once he found out that I was the one responsible for clothing the new "footwear mascot," he pegged me as gay and I've been encouraging it ever since. 

Sometimes I'll hold up a pink shoe to him, "Eddy (he doesn't like his real name being used on the sales floor, so I call him Eddy), do you think this shoe comes in men's sizes?"  I take advantage of the fact that he's easy to mess with.  Ted is a germaphobe, a homophobe, he's got some form of OCD, and he's the first black man I've met who hates black people.  In short, he's just weird, and the fact that I take advantage of his weirdness for my own amusement is a reminder of how far I still have to go on the road to becoming Christlike.

Wow, so that was 3 paragraphs of Ted.  Last night I had a dream about Teds.  It was a really busy day at work (like Christmas time busy) and we had a lot of people working in the footwear department.  In fact, we had three Teds.  One was Ted himself, the other was Ned, his brother, and the other was his sister, though she looked exactly like Ted, except with big black curls.  I don't usually remember my dreams, but I remembered that one.  It didn't seem weird while it was happening.  It wasn't until I was in the bathroom later that morning that I realized what weirdness had crept up from my subconscious. 

So at work tomorrow or Saturday I'll see if my dream comes true.  Then I'll be two for two!

Combustion

Growing up, I never thought that I'd be good at electrochemistry or with topics like free energy.  Since taking college chemistry and learning about these topics, I've discovered I can understand them better than I had thought.  Sometimes I even have nerd moments.  Like the other day, I was reflecting on how oxygen is so good at accepting electrons.  It's so good, in fact, that the term that describes when an atom donates electrons to one that accepts them is called oxidation, even though other elements can act as electron acceptors. 

The reactions that most people are familiar with are usually reactions in which carbon is oxidized, such as in the combustion of methane (CH4), propane (C3H8), or octane (C8H18).  People who haven't taken biology might not know that the combustion of glucose is constantly happening in each cell in the body.  It's incredible to think about how much our lives, or just life on earth in general, depends on combustion reactions in which carbon is oxidized by oxygen.

It was most likely the combustion of cellulose (C6H10O5), that destroyed my girlfriend's parent's house in Missouri on Thursday.  No one was home at the time, so no one was hurt, thankfully.  Merilee still hasn't been able to talk to her parents, but it appears that everything is gone.  Nothing remains but the trampoline and slide in the yard.  They don't know how it happened, but they have renters and it's possible that someone left something on.  Who knows?

They had insurance and her parents were able to stay with nearby family, so no one is sleeping out in the barn with the cats and eventually they'll be able to replace a lot of what they lost.  Some things they'll never get back though.  Merilee has tons of fond memories there, even though she might still have nightmares every now and then about having to milk the goats.  She also kept a lot of personal items in that house: souvenirs from every country she's visited (quite a few), art projects she made in college (she loves art), 20 years of journal writing, her birth certificate, and many other personal items.

Though I've never lost my home to fire, I can imagine that it sucks.  If you live in southern California, which seems to catch on fire every year, you might expect to have something like this happen eventually, but the way it's happened just seems really mean.  I would feel bad complaining to Merilee about it, but I was excited to visit that house some day.  I would have loved to see her art, check out all her souvenirs, and play with her goats.  Though, I guess the latter is still possible.  Merilee also mentioned that her mother's wedding dress, which she wanted to use for her wedding, would be lost.  I would have liked to have been able to see it some day.

I don't really know what you're supposed to learn from your house burning down.  Losing all the possessions that reminded you of fond memories of your past is hard.  I'd say it's probably almost like someone died.  Those things are just gone.  Merilee is really positive though.  She's a great example of looking at the blessings you have and of being grateful.  And I love her dearly.