Where Have I Been? Being Anti-Feminist

Following up from my last post, you would think I'd be moving right into the proposal, but you see life has it's own plans, as I'll explain.

The original proposal plan was to visit Nadia's parents in Osoyoos. While there I would find some reason to go out for dinner, I would ask her father for his permission to marry his daughter (against my better judgment, I'm with all you feminists on this one) then with ring in hand I would make a grand proposal at some time during dinner.

Normally I would like to be a bit better prepared, but as Nadia and I were planning to visit her parents, I was secretly planning the proposal behind her back. Unfortunately completion of the ring had been delayed, and there was just no way of having the ring for our trip to Osoyoos.

Despite a ruined proposal, our trip to Osoyoos wasn't a complete failure. We managed to start a tradition by bring up some Panetone, how many remember last years prank? We took in a rather lack luster Osoyoos Christmas Parade, who's grande attraction was the towns addition of 3 new fire trucks (for those counting that brought the total of parade vehicles up to 7). Sorry Osoyoos, but a 7 vehicle procession just didn't strike me as parade worthy, I still love your town, just not your parades (just saying). I also managed to sum up the courage to ask Nadia's father Joe, for his blessing in marrying his daughter. Now before I get flamed for my anti-feminist views, in my defense I was merely looking to follow in a slightly more traditional/conventional approach so as to not insult Joe. Joe's response would inevitably give the feminist movement the slam dunk they so rightfully deserved, as he told me something along the lines of "you're gonna have to convince her yourself, but if she's ok with it, then I'm ok with it." Not exactly the heartwarming, welcome to the family, response I was expecting, but then again served me right.

So what about the proposal? Stay tuned...

Where Have I Been? Well.. The Ring

Since my last post, life, the coaster we know with its undulating highs and lows has had my head spinning. It all started during a dinner conversation back in mid 2017. Nadia, my girlfriend, and I had met up for dinner with some of Nadia's friend. The conversation quickly turned to the future and questions about when, if ever, would we get married. Our current relationship status has been "happily living in sin" for the past 3 years, so I found myself shying away from the whole formal wedding discussion. You can imaging my surprise when Nadia responded to the dinner table something along the lines that she, at this point would be satisfied with a ring and a trip to city hall. Thinking back, this may have very well been a Machiavellian honey vs vinegar scenario, which I may have completely fallen for.

Soon after our dinner party I began the process of sourcing an engagement ring, which proved slightly more difficult than expected. While I knew exactly what Nadia wanted in an engagement ring (we've been together for almost a decade now), I also wanted it to reflect my personality as well. While I found many styles online, that appealed to me, I wasn't comfortable with the whole online engagement ring purchase scenario. Many jewelry retailers were limited to showcasing their in house designs, and few if any could accommodate a custom made design.

I enlisted the aid of Daniela, Nadia's sister, who, as luck would have it, had recently made a connection to a jewelry broker, that specialized in custom design pieces. This jewelry broker was a "by appointment and by referral only" type establishment, which made setting up an appointment difficult, as Daniela lives on Vancouver Island.

Eventually, an appointment was established, and the brokers in house artist was able to extract the engagement/wedding ring/band idea, that had been floating around in my head. From the artists rendering, a intricate wax casting was created. A mold was made from the wax casting and finally, after a few months, the ring(s) were ready!

Now came preparations for the proposal...