My Proposal...more or less
So yesterday I asked Maria to marry me. The day was fraught with anxiety for me, not with whether or not she might accept, but if the perfect moment would come for me to pop the question. But I'm getting a head of myself.
We woke up late but still sleepy. Admittedly I was up most of the night from excitement, and cats jumping on and off the bed. Maria and I had been planning this day for quite a while, though not quite the same way. Since our 5 year anniversary was last Feb. and the weather was gross, we decided that we should actually celebrate it by spending the day together and touring Milwaukee, similar to when we were in Europe last summer. We got ready and I had to get a few film festival submissions together to make sure they arrived by their due dates.
We drove to the Juneau post office where I submitted films to the Indianapolis, Albuquerque, and New York LGBT film festivals, as well as a donation of "Playing With Gender" to the Transgender Foundation of America. We went to my bank to cash in some change we'd saved up for our anniversary celebration. We stopped off on Brady St. to get a bachelorette gift for Maria's cousin. I was starving by this point, since I hadn't really eaten breakfast. We decided to go to Rock Bottom Brewery for lunch, forgoing the picnic I was hoping to do.
Neither of us could remember exactly where Rock Bottom was along the river, so we parked near the Historic Sydney Hih building and wandered up along the riverwalk. The downtown area seemed unusually deserted. Lunch at the brewery was delicious. We headed back to the car and went up Old world 3rd St. We got some summer sausage from Usingers (one more checkmark off my "Milwaukee To Do" list), and some much needed pepper from a quaint little spice shop. I kept touching the ring ring in my pocket to make sure it was still there.
One of our original plans was to visit the Historic Pabst Mansion. I used to live literally right up the block from the place when I first moved to Milwaukee in 2000 (another checkmark for the list). It was around 2:30pm when we got there. We had to wait for a group of ladies in wheelchairs to go through most of the mansion first before we could go in. After about half an hour we met our tour guide, Dan at the front porch. Dan was very knowledgeable about the place and Capt. Frederick Pabst's life and history...very very knowledgeable. He went on at great length about almost everything in the house. The house itself was beautiful, and I encourage anyone who hasn't been to go, but make sure you have a couple of hours to devote to it!
While we were in the mansion, tornado sirens went off. That reminded me to look at the clock on my cellphone. It was 4:15pm, and we had planned to go to the Mitchell Domes since the bad weather had foiled my idea of going to the Boener Botanical Gardens, where I was planning to propose. But now the problem was the Domes would close in 45 minutes and we weren't through with the tour.
We finally wrapped up the tour 15 minutes later, and Maria and I headed back to our car. I asked her what she wanted to do. We briefly tried stopping by the Church of the Gesu near Marquette because Maria thought that's where her Grandmother had been married, and never seen the inside. Unfortunately the main chapel was closed. There were some homeless people praying or possibly sleeping in the basement chapel.
With the rain drizzling as we left the cathedral, I began to wonder where/how/and if I was ever going to be able to propose to Maria. I asked Maria what she wanted to do since everything else had fallen through. She suggested we go get coffee at Alterra on the Lake. This was my answer! We drove to the lake front as the sky began to clear. We got our drinks and I made sure we got them "to go".
We drove the the spot where there is a little outcrop with the flagpole overlooking Lake Michigan. As we approached it some guy was heading for the same spot. I pondered the relative awkwardness of trying to propose with some random stranger standing next to us, but thankfully he headed the other direction at the last minute.
We stood at the end of Milwaukee coastline and stared out at the blue green water. I knew this was it, now or never. I was shocked by how nervous I felt, even though I felt confident that everything would go fine. My heart was beating like crazy. I took the ring from my pocket and turned to Maria, and asked her to marry me.
At first she quite believe me, but then said, "Yes of course!!!" and we kissed.
ps. Thanks to everyone I told my plans to for keeping it a secret so Maria could be surprised. It was definitely worth it!
We woke up late but still sleepy. Admittedly I was up most of the night from excitement, and cats jumping on and off the bed. Maria and I had been planning this day for quite a while, though not quite the same way. Since our 5 year anniversary was last Feb. and the weather was gross, we decided that we should actually celebrate it by spending the day together and touring Milwaukee, similar to when we were in Europe last summer. We got ready and I had to get a few film festival submissions together to make sure they arrived by their due dates.
We drove to the Juneau post office where I submitted films to the Indianapolis, Albuquerque, and New York LGBT film festivals, as well as a donation of "Playing With Gender" to the Transgender Foundation of America. We went to my bank to cash in some change we'd saved up for our anniversary celebration. We stopped off on Brady St. to get a bachelorette gift for Maria's cousin. I was starving by this point, since I hadn't really eaten breakfast. We decided to go to Rock Bottom Brewery for lunch, forgoing the picnic I was hoping to do.
Neither of us could remember exactly where Rock Bottom was along the river, so we parked near the Historic Sydney Hih building and wandered up along the riverwalk. The downtown area seemed unusually deserted. Lunch at the brewery was delicious. We headed back to the car and went up Old world 3rd St. We got some summer sausage from Usingers (one more checkmark off my "Milwaukee To Do" list), and some much needed pepper from a quaint little spice shop. I kept touching the ring ring in my pocket to make sure it was still there.
One of our original plans was to visit the Historic Pabst Mansion. I used to live literally right up the block from the place when I first moved to Milwaukee in 2000 (another checkmark for the list). It was around 2:30pm when we got there. We had to wait for a group of ladies in wheelchairs to go through most of the mansion first before we could go in. After about half an hour we met our tour guide, Dan at the front porch. Dan was very knowledgeable about the place and Capt. Frederick Pabst's life and history...very very knowledgeable. He went on at great length about almost everything in the house. The house itself was beautiful, and I encourage anyone who hasn't been to go, but make sure you have a couple of hours to devote to it!
While we were in the mansion, tornado sirens went off. That reminded me to look at the clock on my cellphone. It was 4:15pm, and we had planned to go to the Mitchell Domes since the bad weather had foiled my idea of going to the Boener Botanical Gardens, where I was planning to propose. But now the problem was the Domes would close in 45 minutes and we weren't through with the tour.
We finally wrapped up the tour 15 minutes later, and Maria and I headed back to our car. I asked her what she wanted to do. We briefly tried stopping by the Church of the Gesu near Marquette because Maria thought that's where her Grandmother had been married, and never seen the inside. Unfortunately the main chapel was closed. There were some homeless people praying or possibly sleeping in the basement chapel.
With the rain drizzling as we left the cathedral, I began to wonder where/how/and if I was ever going to be able to propose to Maria. I asked Maria what she wanted to do since everything else had fallen through. She suggested we go get coffee at Alterra on the Lake. This was my answer! We drove to the lake front as the sky began to clear. We got our drinks and I made sure we got them "to go".
We drove the the spot where there is a little outcrop with the flagpole overlooking Lake Michigan. As we approached it some guy was heading for the same spot. I pondered the relative awkwardness of trying to propose with some random stranger standing next to us, but thankfully he headed the other direction at the last minute.
We stood at the end of Milwaukee coastline and stared out at the blue green water. I knew this was it, now or never. I was shocked by how nervous I felt, even though I felt confident that everything would go fine. My heart was beating like crazy. I took the ring from my pocket and turned to Maria, and asked her to marry me.
At first she quite believe me, but then said, "Yes of course!!!" and we kissed.
ps. Thanks to everyone I told my plans to for keeping it a secret so Maria could be surprised. It was definitely worth it!