Engage Meant Ring

Well the next step for me was 'the ring' .. how the hell was I going to do that and keep it a secret .. I needed to get the size right ... well I was in luck .. Yvonne had taken to wearing my Engineering Ring as a kind of a friendship thing ... like those Irish rings .. cladagh rings I believe .. so I must have gotten it from her on some excuse that I needed to wear it for some reason and took it to Peoples Jewellers ... I have no idea how I decided what design or how many carats ... but the purchase was made and now it was just a matter of timing and circumstance ... 

I had my old hockey game from Xmas past .. the kind where you articulate the players by pushing and pulling rods that you could also spin to create a shot .. the goaltender simply moved from side to side .. I had taken to having tournaments .. drew up schedules ... everything .. another excuse to party like crazy ... 

So .. on the 14 February ... yes Valentines Day ... I had scheduled a big tournament ... people came and went during the day ... heading towards the playoffs and finals ... Yvonne was making a chicken dinner for us ... I don't remember who won .. but it must have ended around supper time and we all agreed to meet at the Athletic Club later ... when they all left I gave Yvonne the ring ... by then I was half in the bag ... but it gets better ...

I phoned my mother .. when she came on the line .. I said .. Yvonne has something to tell you .. and then I passed the phone to Yvonne ... yes .. the ultimate act of cowardice ... I am sure they exchanged pleasantries of some kind ... I don't remember what happened after they got off the phone .. maybe there is a reason for that ... 

Off we went to the Athletic Club for one hell of a celebration ... I asked Bill if he would be Best Man and he agreed ... this was the hardest decision I had to make in the whole process ... my friend from university days was a prime candidate for this and I had agonized over this for quite some time .. I had basically re-invented myself over the 18 months since I had started work and Bill was responsible for all of that .. and for that reason alone I chose Bill ... I will pay tribute to Bill and explain that very soon ... 

I asked Yvonne how long it would take to organize the wedding and she said 6 months ... so the date was set as the 14 August 1976 ... I wish I had done the ring presentation differently ... a nice dinner .. drive out to the seaside .. get down on one knee ... present the ring .. ask her to marry me ... 

Just another example of someone who cannot get the finer details right .. I did get the day right ... more luck than design ...


Phil - (19 January 2021 - San Patricio de Melaque - 7:44 PM)


Krome Koan - 'We've been through a lot together and most of it is my fault'




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