Roses and Poses

I snuck out of bed early to place the framed photo by Joe’s laptop. I neatly propped a card against it and put a couple of balloons (leftover from Liberty’s birthday party) on his chair. I waited hours for him to wake.

As I nursed my daughter, an envelope flew through the mail slot in the door and I heard someone outside quickly scurry away to the slamming of a car door. And I found this card from my daughter’s nana and grandpa:

I grabbed it up and we went to the room to wake Joe where she kissed the card repeatedly. When Joe saw the photo, he came as close to crying as possible while maintaining his manly visage. Yes, the morning started off cuddly and warm. While Joe left to run a few errands, Liberty and I got ready for our lunch date. I only knew we were going to lunch and that I should wear a dress.

He told me not to look in the back of the truck and that we were going to a few places that mean a lot to him. He hoped they’d be special places for me, too, after this. He also told me he had a gift for every stop.

First, we went to a little place called Swiss Pastry and had sandwiches and cake. It was amazing. Here, Joe gave me a box of chocolates and a balloon. After lunch, we went to the park where he gave me an electric griddle. I was confused, but excited to get it, anyway. We fed the ducks for a while, which was perfect on this sunny day.

After fattening up the ducks, we drove to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens to go for a stroll. Around the corners we found quiet men reading books, lovers gazing into each others eyes as they embraced and couples walking hand in hand. We came to a pavilion overlooking fountains where I rested on a step and watched two women photographing a little boy who almost seemed bored of all the photos.

When they moved on, we stood up and made our way to the overlook to get a view of the fountains and roses below.

Joe locked the strollers wheels and took my hand to lead me closer. I hesitated as we were up so high and I have a bit of a fear of heights. He stepped down in front of me and turned to me. He began kneeling as he produced a white box from his pocket. I almost collapsed, clasping my hands over my mouth as I sobbed.

He told me how he loved me and wanted to be with me. He told me what this heirloom ring meant and many, many beautiful words flowed from his mouth and spun in a whirl wind around my head as I wept and held his wrist to steady myself.

Of course I said yes, accepted the ring and we embraced. And we took the balloon he had given me earlier and released it together with Liberty.

It was the perfect day.