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There's something new on the fourth finger of my left hand. It's 18 carat white gold, with two square sapphires and a square diamond all in a row. It may not be the typical shape for an engagement ring, but I love it.
I'd been pestering Rob about going on holiday to Paris almost since we started dating. So when my cousin decided she wanted to go for her birthday this year and wanted me and my sister to go with her, it seemed like a perfect time for Rob and I to have our Paris holiday. The plan was that my cousin and my sister would go to Paris on Thursday and leave on Monday, and we would join them on Saturday morning, spend Saturday and Sunday together and then stay till Thursday morning of the following week.
The weekend went pretty much according to plan - we had to get up amazingly early on Saturday to make the train from Waterloo to Paris at 5:30am. We met up with my sister and my cousin and wandered around the Latin quarter, then went up to Montmartre for the evening. Unfortunately my sister was ill on Sunday with some kind of stomach bug, so the holiday didn't work out quite so well for her. She was, thankfully, well enough to come out with us for a while in the evening and to catch her train on Monday morning.
Monday morning arrived and Rob and I had three days to spend together in Paris, the most romantic of cities. We walked around the Ile de la Cité in the morning, and went into Notre Dame and Sainte-Chappelle, and then spent the afternoon at the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysées.
Unfortunately it rained most of the day so by the time it got to 4pm we were tired and went and decided to go back to the hotel for a nap. We discussed plans for the evenings we had, and Rob said "all I want to do is go for a night-time walk by the Seine, and other than that you can decide." Anyway, when we emerged from the hotel at 7:30 the rain had stopped and left a lovely mild evening. We had dinner in one of the best restaurants in Paris, Bofinger (near Bastille) - the food was excellent and we just relaxed and chatted and enjoyed the romantic atmosphere.
When we left the restaurant it was still lovely outside, so we decided to take our walk. We walked down to the Quai Henri IV – on the right bank of the Seine – and walked along for a while, taking in the sights and the tranquillity of the riverside. I was just about to suggest that we stop and take a photograph of the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, which we could see across the river, when Rob stopped walking. I knew in my heart that this was it… the moment that we’d been talking about for weeks, and that I’d been thinking about for longer. “I wanted it to be starry,” Rob said, “but this will have to do.” Next thing I knew he had pulled a small green box from his pocket, and I was squealing and hugging and kissing him. He insists that he did say “will you marry me?” but I didn’t hear it in all the excitement of the moment. Once I calmed down I said “I think the answer’s yes,” and we both laughed. Then he put the ring on my finger and we hugged some more. We took photographs of each other with the view of the river behind us, because I said that I wanted photographs of the exact spot where he proposed to me.
It still didn’t quite sink in. I checked the ring I don’t know how many times to make sure it was still there. We practiced saying “my fiancé(e) to see how it sounded. We kept walking, through the Ile St-Louis and the Ile de la Cité and up to the Louvre to see the pyramid all lit up. The streets were quiet – the only people out seemed to be other couples in love, and an old man playing the accordion on the Ile de la Cité. We had goofy grins on our faces for the whole of the next two days, and indeed I’m still wearing a goofy grin!
Rob wanted our engagement story to be one he would be happy to tell his grandchildren. I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of telling it. I hope that at some point soon Rob will borrow my username and tell his side of the story, in the time-honoured Hatrack tradition.
And I have to say that I approve of Rob's name. It's a variant of Bob that I find particularly appealing and I applaud you for having the good sense to find a Bob to marry.
Besides, there really isn't a B in front of Robert, so really it is Bob that is a varient of OUR name, not the other way around, right? Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
Thanks all for the messages of congratulation. I have tried to take photos of the ring but they haven't come out very well. I'll try again this weekend. I'm still bouncing! Posts: 1550 | Registered: Jun 1999
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