Marry Me

The first time I asked her to marry me was when we were six years old.

"I'll be the husband," I said, "and you can be the wife."

"No," she replied simply.

"Yes," I said.

"No," she replied again and walked off.

After a few moments, I walked off too. It’s no fun playing house alone.

The second time I asked her to marry me, was when we were fourteen. We were partners in a dance for the annual school program and I was waiting for her to come out of the dressing room. I was dressed in a black suit and bowtie. As she stepped out of the dressing room in a pink dress that came down to her knees, I took a deep breath. She looked like an angel that had just stepped down from the heavens. As we waited for the teachers to give the signal for us to get on stage, I stared at her and tried to find my voice. She caught me looking and smiled as she asked, "What are you looking at?"

"Will you marry me?" I blurted out.

Her smile turned into a grin, and a second later she burst out laughing. I didn't mind. I could see stars in her eyes. Still laughing, she took my hand and led me onto the stage.

The third time I asked her to marry me was on her sixteenth birthday. We were at a picnic with friends and the two of us were sitting by ourselves under a tree as the rest argued about which game to play next. She laughed at something someone was talking about in the distance. I heard the tinkling of bells in her voice. I plucked a daisy that was growing nearby and gave it to her as I said, "Will you be my wife?"

She blushed as she looked at the flower, and then burst out laughing again. She took the flower and ran to join the rest of the group. I followed.

The fourth time, we were eighteen. We were sitting in the cafeteria in college as she sat sipping on a glass of orange juice and telling me how beautiful the last poem she read had been. After speaking continuously for a few minutes, she stopped and said, "What happened? Why aren't you saying anything?"

I looked into her eyes and said, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

As before, she burst out laughing again and said, "You're not old enough to get married yet." And then she started talking about another poem.

The fifth time I asked her to marry me was the day of our graduation. We were both twenty-one. I got down on one knee with a red rose in my hand and said to her, "Will you, now, take me to be your husband?"

She grinned this time, and replied, "You're always in a hurry. You wanted to do your post-graduation, right?"

I shrugged, got back on my feet, and walked with her to the convocation hall.

Four years later, I had finished my post-graduation and had a job in a multinational company. We were sitting in an ice cream shop when she brought it up. "You haven't asked me to marry you in four years," she said. "What happened? Did you change your mind?" She was smiling widely.


"What do you think?" I teased.

"I think you're afraid I’ll reject you again."

"You haven't really rejected me even once, till now," I countered. "You never really said 'No'."

"I did when we were six," she pointed out.

"She remembers", I thought to myself, as I smiled at the memory.

I held out a spoon of ice cream for her to taste, and said, "Alright, so you rejected me once."

"So?" she asked as she tasted my ice cream.

"So nothing," I replied.

She rolled her eyes in silence. She was no longer smiling.

"Well?" I asked. "Do you think I've changed my mind?"

She frowned as she said, "I don't know." She looked beautiful even when she frowned.
I watched her for a few seconds and said, "Why don't you ask me to marry you this time?"

"Me?" she replied, eyes wide in surprise.

"Why?" I asked. "What's wrong with that?"

She blushed. "No," she said.

"Are you rejecting me again?" I asked.

"No, no!" she said quickly.

"So then you are saying 'Yes'?"

She stuck her tongue out at me as she realized what I was trying to do, and went back to eating her ice cream.

"Hey," I said, as I took her hand in mine. "Marry me."

She scrunched up her nose as she replied, "Are you sure?"

I'd been sure since I was six. "Yes," I said simply.

And she just smiled and nodded.

A Car Accident

September 19th I was booked to work as a greeter at a Nissan dealership for a sale they had going on that weekend. I got there that morning and was introduced to all the salesmen and women, and shown where I was to work.

Throughout the day, one of the salesmen and I flirted, making goofy comments at each other. I think I would have said anything that day to get his attention. That evening after work - we all went out to dinner. We sat beside each other and talked, but numbers were never exchanged. I was supposed to be back up there Sunday morning, so I guess I was going to make my move then.

Around 10 pm I began my 2 hour drive back down the mountain. For the first part of the drive I was thinking to myself how stupid I had been for not at least giving him my number, oh well! Then all of a sudden, all I could see were headlights. I had gone around a curve and another driver was completely over in my lane. There was no time to even hit brakes, we automatically hit. It knocked me out and I woke up as they were cutting the top of my car off to get me out. They rushed me to the hospital in the town I was working in that day. My mother got there late that night, and laying in the emergency room, I told her about him. I said "throw me in a wheelchair, I'm working Sunday!" She must have thought I was crazy. That morning, mom called the dealership and let them know what had happened and that I would be in the hospital for the rest of the weekend, so I wouldn't be in on Sunday. A few hours later, I received a phone call - as soon as I knew who it was, I about jumped out of my bed! It was the guy I had met Thursday, and he wanted to come see me! yeah baby! Well, he came to visit Friday night, Saturday night, and back Sunday morning to say goodbye. We got to spend a lot of time alone together, and talk about lots of things but I was still afraid I wouldn't ever see him again. He called me that evening, and we talked forever. We never went a day without talking twice or more and every day he had off work, he would drive two hours to see me!

Since the wreck caused more damage than I hoped for, It would be awhile before I would be walking and driving again. But he's been by my side, even though I was a stranger to him - he was wonderful.

I don't think I could have gotten through it all without him. I am now walking without any braces again, just this week! And we are planning on getting married on sept. 19, 2003 - one year after the day we met.

It's just amazing how a tragedy like a car wreck, could bring about such a wonderful relationship!

I love you Clayton Stratton!