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I’ve known since we started dating that Geordie could be the person I would marry, and I’ve known for over a year that he is definitely and absolutely the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. He isn’t really what I’d dreamt of in a husband. He’s everything I’d dreamt of and so much more that I didn’t even know to dream of.

For several months, and especially since we moved to New York in August, every time we did anything that could be at all special, I’d think it might be the day or night he proposed. Unfortunately, my anticipation level made me worry that he couldn’t possibly surprise me when he proposed. And Geordie loves to surprise me.

 

		Monday night (October 15), I had a meeting after work. I told Geordie that I’d be home after 9:00, and to go ahead and eat without me. The meeting got out early and I called him on my way to catch a cab at around 8:00. At 8:15, I started to open the door to our apartment, but it was deadbolted. Strange. Not only did Geordie never deadbolt the door, but he also laughed at me for doing it. He let me in and I walked inside to see brown twine crisscrossing our entire apartment. It was intertwined around furniture in the eating area, kitchen and bathroom, and wound downstairs to the living room and upstairs to our bedroom. He asked me if I wanted to play a game. This was crazy! For a second, I wondered (for the umpteenth time) if this might be "it". (He hates it when I say that, being sure that I had no idea.) But I had thought that so many times before, that I pushed it out of my head. Plus, Geordie had taken the Series 3 exam in the morning and had the rest of the day off work, so I figured maybe he was just bored and needed something to do. So, I dutifully and giddily started following the string. This was fun! He showed me where to start and watched as I started following. It went everywhere. A few seconds later, I realized that I had to capture this on film to show our parents just how elaborate it was. He let me take a brief photo break (in which I tried but couldn’t quite capture the full scale of string!), and then I was back to following it. Within two minutes, I’d kicked off my shoes to avoid tripping! Then I got to a piece of paper with a question. As it turns out, there were ten such multiple choice questions.
A small sample of string!

 

At this point in our story, I’ll put forth an opportunity for you, our friends and family, to see how you would fare with Geordie’s questions. The questions are below, with the answers at the bottom of the page:

Now, back to my story:

Question 1:  What was Geordie’s number in Junior hockey?

The paper had two holes punched in it that the string went through with answers next to them. 12 or 18.

This was easy, because it was a question I’d missed before in an Easter egg hunt. The answer was 12. I started following the string and got to a dead end tied around a table leg! What?!?!?! I was wrong – 12 had been his number in Midgets, but it was 18 in Juniors. I felt really embarrassed – and tricked. So I went back to the paper and kept following the string around the apartment, answering questions along the way. I got more wrong than right!

In the spirit of full disclosure, here are the questions and my answers:

Question 2:  What is the mass of an electron? 6.26 * 10^-26 kg . . . . 9.11 x 10^-31 kg.

I remembered 6.26 * something from chemistry, so I followed that string. Wrong – I was remembering part of Avagadro’s number for the mass of a mole quantity. I was 0 for two!

Question 3:  How many players on the field for one team at one time in Rugby? 15 . . . . 11.

Easy, 15. Football has 11. One for three.

Question 4:  How many miles is it to the Sun from the Earth? 93,750,000 . . . . 93,750,000,000?

Must be the second, the first is too small. Wrong again! Still in debt at one for four.

Question 5:  Which is not a Kevin Bacon movie? Iron Eagle . . . . Hollow Man

I had no idea, but Iron Eagle sounded right. He agreed and I followed the string – to a dead end! He’d finally made a mistake too and attached it the wrong way! I could see why, it was a total maze of string. So now I was two for five, still in the hole.

This was getting really, really fun – and really random. It was all of Geordie’s favorite trivia, all wrapped together. I’d seen the paper with Question 8, so I knew it went at least that high, but didn’t know how many there were altogether.

Question 6:  What is d/dx (a^x)? lna * a^x . . . . x * a^x/a

Are you kidding me? I was pretty sure of the answer, but embarrassed that I wasn’t positive. I picked the second one. Wrong again. I hate natural logs! At this point, I was still having fun, but felt a bit foolish too for getting so many wrong. I wonder if Harvard and Stanford should have granted my degrees.

Question 7:  Which team was Geordie a member of in high school? Squash . . . . Badminton

Badminton, he plays squash now. Finally, one right! Now I was three for seven, and I became determined to finish the game at least even.

Question 8:  What is the magnitude of acceleration due to gravity near the Earth’s surface?

6.67 * 10^-11 Nm²/kg² . . . . 9.81 m/s²

I knew this one for sure – funny, since high school physics was my worst subject ever! The second answer was right and I was back to even.

Question 9:  What is Geordie’s lowest 18 hole score on a regulation golf course? 75 . . . . 78

I knew he’s told me this, but I didn’t remember and 75 sounded really low. So I guessed 78. Wrong again! He’s good at everything! Four for nine.

I followed the string to the bookshelf in the corner of our living room for question 10, with Geordie standing next to me. I didn’t see string leaving the bookshelf, so I knew it was the last question. I was a little anxious, partly because I didn’t want the game to end, I was having so much fun.

Question 10:  Will you marry me? Yes . . . . No

My heart jumped into my throat. I was in shock. Even writing now, I have tears in my eyes and my heart’s beating so fast that I can hardly type. I looked at him and I think I said "Really?" He claims that I said "Are you kidding?" I felt like I was in a dream. I was so happy, I couldn’t believe it.

He’d done it. He’d really surprised me, even when I thought I was so ready and impatient that it was impossible.

I kept hugging and kissing him until he asked if I wanted to follow the string. THE RING! I’d forgotten that there would be a ring attached. Now that I knew I definitely got to spend the rest of my life with him, it didn’t seem to matter. At least, until I opened it!

I actually started following the wrong string and didn’t find it. Geordie confirmed that I’d said yes, right? I was following the no string! I got to the end of the yes string and struggled to open the black velvet jewelry box. Inside was the ring of my dreams – and then some.

We spent the rest of the evening calling family and close friends. The next few days were a whirlwind of telling people while constantly smiling. Many people told me how happy it had made them too; how it almost gave them hope. After September 11, I think a lot of our friends and officemates in New York were ready for anything happy and cheerful that indicated confidence and joy in the future. I felt the same way. It was the first day in ages when I didn’t worry about anything and just reveled in my amazing life., and it’s continued ever since.

We’re so happy to be getting married and joyfully anticipating and planning for October 12, 2002!