The Best Laid Plans..

...of mice and men often go awry, as the saying goes.

I hadn't planned on climbing up steep stairs cut into a cliff and then on up a lookout tower, right before the big moment.

What I did plan, was to sing this to her -

Never knew, I could feel like this
Like I've never seen the sky before
Want to vanish inside your kiss
Every day I love you more and more

Listen to my heart
Can you hear it sing?
Telling me to give you everything

Seasons may change
Winter to spring
But I'll love you
Until the end of time

- Come What May, from Moulin Rouge


Super romance, right??

But by the time I got back down to where she was waiting (sitting out the climb because of a bad knee), I was out of breath.

Heaving like one's about to have a heartattack is so not the way to ber-romance.

Plus there were ten million tourists milling about.

My window of opportunity was closing as rapidly as the disappearing golden sunlight-setting I'd waited all day for.


Desperately, I lured her to the more secluded edge of the rocks, on the pretext of "Hey look, fish! See the pretty fish OVER THERE".

Cis. A stray tourist decided also to look at the pretty fish.

GO. AWAY. DUMBASS.

Fish, fish, pretty fish (stall stall stall)...wah, so nice. See, see, nice hor?

Like never see fish before.


Finally. Alone.

I made her sit down. Her elderly knee sure comes in handy as an excuse.

Then I got on one knee.

The look on her face. Heh. So terperanjat (that means "alarmed", Minty). Actually, as I found out later, she'd thought I tersangat lemah (totally weakened) from the cliff/tower climb.

My heart was pounding. Never knew I could feel like this, indeed.

All the romantic words I'd planned deserted me. Damn...I was about to cry! Cis!

I think I said "I love you (Snowie's real name) ... will you spend your life with me?" as I held her hand and opened mine with the ring in it.

When what I'd planned was "will you witness my life?"* because, you know, what actually did come out of my mouth is like ... so corny. Ah well. Mice and men.


I've always wondered whether women cry when proposed to in the movies/literature because it's a genuine feeling or only because that's what's expected. Like how couples pause to kiss all over the place in Italy.

Well, I sure got my answer. Total speechless shock quickly turned to all-out blubbing. Er..on her part, that is. Me, I just teared a tiny bit.



It was a moment to remember, love. Thank you for the surprise postcard to commemorate it - finding it in the mail when we got back, brought back the magic of that day.

I commit my life to you, to witness yours and to love you, with all that I can give.


* We need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet... I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things... all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying - Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness –

- Susan Sarandon's character in Shall We Dance