Popping the Question

One of the main motivations for this whole trip came  down to this day.   I’d had this ring custom made by Santa Fe Goldworks. They did an amazing job, it’s white gold with Mediterranean coral inlay.  Although I had gone to David Griego first, I went to many jewelers and artists around the surrounding area to see what my other options were and the quality either wasn’t as good or they could not get anything like this anymore as SouthWestern jewelry was no longer “in vogue” like it was 3 to 5 years ago, in those cases everyone referred me back to David as one of the best out there.   I think I made the right choice. David was great to work with and I highly recommend them, it was also nice to support the local artisans during these tough times.

I took a big risk of getting the ring done with no input from Cece, would she like it?  I thought the non-traditional design would reflect her Native heritage. Only through a bit of subterfuge was I really positive on the coral. One weekend while the ring was in process I took her through many shops around the plaza so she wouldn’t suspect something when I said, “Hey lets go in here!”  All of the staff were in on it and pretended not to know me. It was such a relief when she gravitated towards the coral work like I had already ordered.

Not suspecting anything... Can you see the tiny frog down by the puddle?

So I’d been carrying this around the entire trip being extra cautious not to loose it anywhere.   While on the bike I kept it in my nicely padded camera bag to  protect it from being banged around or potentially falling out of a pocket somewhere in the vastness of Texas.  When we’d stop and go inside for a while I didn’t want to leave it outside unsecured so I had to keep taking it out of the bag and putting it in my jacket pocket, being careful that she didn’t see me doing it and then reversing the process while she was putting on her helmet before we left.  Trying to do this a dozen times with your girlfriend 2 feet away without getting caught, whew talk about stressful.

For a month I’d been planning on proposing tomorrow at the Texas State Aquarium at the dolphin tank or during the Dolphin Encounter we were planning on doing, whichever felt right at the moment.  Well this morning when I was getting water for breakfast one of those little tree frogs was up inside the faucet again and came out with the water.   I caught him and put him up on the table for Cece and this one seemed content to sit there and explore the table top and not run away like yesterdays frog.

I spilled some cold water getting the stove ready and he gently touched his toes in there and slowly got in the little puddle, he did not look happy that it was ice cold.  When the water was hot I slowly poured some more on the opposite side of the puddle for him to gently heat it up and the little frog flattened himself out and snuggled his legs into his new hot tub puddle, Ahhhh!  It was pretty hilarious.

While we were having our breakfast a fly came to taste a few grains of instant chai and our little buddy got some breakfast too.  Between the frog and the cardinals singing and the peaceful morning with just the two of us the moment seemed right and I proposed a day ahead of plans (good thing too with all the school groups of screaming kids we would encounter at the aquarium).

Cece’s response, “REALY?!”

When I fetched the box our little green buddy hopped up on top of the stove burner and scared us that he was going to burn himself. He stayed there watching us while I proposed, our little witness.

Such a huge relief that she loved the ring and I didn’t need to keep hiding it right under her nose.  Thanks Santa Fe Goldworks!  She gets lots  of complements on it.