On Bended Knee...or Not

     December is the month for marriage proposals.  We've all seen them on the plaza in front of Today show cameras or in lights on scoreboards at stadiums or on billboards along highways.

     Vincent Mallozzi  reported a few in The N.Y. Times on December 30th. 

     Allison LeClaire was waiting on a bench in Bryant Park, NYC, for her boyfriend and his boss.  A flash mob of dancers began flailing about on the lawn.  Friends and relatives integrated into the dancers, and a 140-piece marching band appeared to accompany them.  One of the band members emerged from the ranks with his baton, dropped to a knee, and uttered his proposal to the girl on the bench.

     Matthew Wolf of NYC led Ms. Esther Klein back to his apartment where candles lined the hallway, lavender petals covered the floor, and snowflake lights hung on the walls.  At the end of the hallway on a table covered in fake snow was a giant chocolate ring with a white chocolate diamond which read, "Will you marry me?"  The real ring sat in the middle of the chocolate one.

     One ingenious surfer arranged a trail of shells, lit by votives,  from the bedroom to the beach.  There his proposal was written in sand.

     Let's not forget those spoken in helicopters, planes, or speedboats.  I've always wondered how anyone can utter the words during a bungee jump or while hitting the mogels.  Shouldn't the concern be surviving the moment, not the next fifty years?

     Which leads me to my own...non-proposal.  Charley never asked.  After dating for eighteen months, we both knew we'd get married.  We went to the NY Jeweler's Exchange together and selected the ring.  We set the date together.  We made every major decision together (except bridesmaids and room colors) and still do.

     Almost forty-eight years later.

     What are your unusual proposal stories?  Share them in the comment box below.