Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

The moment that I had been anticipating has finally arrived. The Gryphon and I are engaged!

We'd been talking about it for some time. In fact, within the first year that we started dating, we talked about what we might want from a future together and agreed we were looking for long-term commitment and marriage.

Last year, while helping my sister to plan her wedding, we found ourselves discussing the decisions she made for her wedding and whether or not we'd do the same thing.

So when we attended a friend's wedding in New Jersey earlier this year, which happened to be, counting my sister's, the fourth wedding we'd attended together, we agreed we wanted the next wedding we attended to be our own.

Shortly afterwards, we began ring shopping. The Gryphon knew about a great jeweler, Henri David, who owns the quirky jewelry shop, Halloween, where an unassuming storefront hides a treasure trove of beautiful, handcrafted jewelry.

Henri worked with us to create a really beautiful rose-gold ring with a diamond and six blue-green sapphires, which is my birth stone. I hadn't thought about it at the time, but this particular shade of sapphire also matches my eyes, which are blue with hints of green or gray. I've already begun to refer to it as "my engagement bling."

We picked the ring up on Saturday. The Gryphon tells me he'd thought about telling me that the jewelry store was late with the order and then truly surprising me, but he decided it would be best if I actually got to try it on and give it final approval. He was worried I'd get distressed otherwise.

The ring fit perfectly. Henri brought out a selection of boxes, and I chose a gold heart-shaped one. The Gryphon put the ring and ring box in his pocket.

I knew we were going out to celebrate out third anniversary together that night, and I thought he might ask me that night but wasn't sure. It was technically five days early, but it was the best time for us to go. We both got dressed up. I wore a black sleeveless shirt with an embroidered sweetheart neckline, a black and white polka dot knee-length skirt with handkerchief hemline and a short-sleeved fitted olive vest with a great beaded necklace. He wore a long-sleeved violet button down shirt, navy jacket and dark blue jeans with dress shoes. He looked very dapper. We both were the hotness.

The Gryphon had made reservations and kept them secret. He tried to call us a cab, but the timing was wrong, as they said it would take them half an hour. So I agreed to drive. We parked in the parking garage at 18th and Market and walked from there. We ended up catching a cab anyway because we were cutting it close for our reservations.

As we neared the place, I recognized it immediately, The Astral Plane. We'd been there once before, earlier this year, and had lucked into a great romantic seat. When we arrived, the owner of the restaurant, who looked a lot like Henri David but with silver tusk earrings, showed us to our place. It was the same cozy little bench tucked back in the wall that we'd had before.

The restaurant used to be someone's house and is decorated with photos and paintings, many of which belonged to the original owner. There are tapestries hung on the ceilings, and the tablecloths are a multitude of vintage cloth ones in various designs. Even the plates and silverware are intentionally mismatched, so that it's like eating in someone's home.

Strangely enough, they were playing U2's "Beautiful Day" when we were seated, which is a song that I'd put on a mix CD I made for The Gryphon when we were first dating. Then the next song was by Sarah MacLachlan, one of The Gryphon's favorite artists. But The Gryphon swore that he had nothing to do with it.

The food, which is American Eclectic, was delicious. We shared an appetizer of Lobster Rolls and then I had the Grilled Salmon while The Gryphon enjoyed a Pork Roast. We each had a glass of red wine.

They had removed our plates and were bringing us coffee when The Gryphon asked me if I'd like to read my card. I said, "Sure." He has extremely good card mojo, always finding ones that sound just like he'd said it himself. This particular card featured a free verse poem that talked about how happy he was being with me and how much happier he was with me than he would be without me. It ended with the lines "You are my world / You are my love".

At the bottom of the preprinted card was a handwritten arrow, pointing inside. I opened the inner flap and read what he had written: "Will you marry me? I love you with all my heart."

I turned to him, all smiles, and whispered, "Yes." He pulled out the box and slipped the ring on my finger.

I was understandably giddy for the rest of the evening, in high spirits, laughing and joking. Just to be silly, on the comment card, we wrote, "A nice place to get engaged."

In fact, I was so deliriously happy that I nearly left the card behind, and we had to walk back a block and a half to retrieve it.

From there we walked to Tria for some dessert. We had a panini with banana and caramel filling, as a tribute to one of our earliest in-jokes, from when I had him sign my banana at Otakon 2003. We also enjoyed some cheese and some dessert wine.

I was cheerily making comments about the descriptions of the cheeses, which were sometimes listed as "goaty" or "oozy". I made The Gryphon decide on the cheese, while loudly declaring in hearing of the water, "Make sure you get one that's got plenty of goat in it." I'm not sure the waiter appreciated the joke, but I was too giddy to care.

In fact, in the middle of our animated discussion, The Gryphon told me that a series of head motions I made to emphasize a point reminded him of Johnny Depp, presumably in his pirate role.

"I was aiming for the Muppets," I said, and did a wide-mouthed grin while wobbling my head side to side.

"That's more Muppet," he agreed.

The shenanigans continued as we left the restaurant and I noted that a same-sex couple had taken our seat after us. We'd been joking about how we had "good luck fairies" blessing our union (so many people in our lives are gay, lesbian or transgender), so I took this as a positive sign. The Gryphon asked how I knew they were together romantically. "Were they eyeing each other over the menus?" he asked.

I said they were and then pantomimed giving someone longing glances over a menu in between trying to pretend I was reading it.

Since it was still early and we knew that some of our friends were gathering at The White Rabbit's place, The Gryphon suggested that we go over to deliver the good news in person. But first I insisted that we call my family. So we called around for about an hour, and I managed to talk to everyone but my sister, who was at her 10th high school reunion. She knew that we'd been ring shopping, though, as did my brother, so in a way she knew before my parents anyway.

Then we drove up to The White Rabbit's place, where the first thing they noticed was The Gryphon's hair, which he'd had cut short, losing a nine-inch ponytail, the week before. He'd been ready for a change, and when I saw some old pictures of him with short hair and told him it looked good that way, he decided to try something new. He's really happy with the results, as am I. I think it makes him look younger and really plays up his attractive facial structure and eyes.

When they were done marveling at the hair, I announced we had other news, and I held up my engagement ring. The White Rabbit joked, "You held up a jewelry store?"

"No, we're engaged, silly!" I said.

"Congratulations!" everyone said, and then returned to their game of Carcassonne. That's the difference between men and women. Our female friends would have pressed us for details, but the guys just took it in stride, as if they'd been expecting it.

One person who did seek more details was The Cheshire Cat, who wanted to look at the ring. He has some experience with such things, having bought an engagement ring for his wife, The Paper. I explained to him that the sapphires looked lighter in daylight, and he assured me he has some experience with them. His wife's ring centers around a large antique sapphire.

We stayed for awhile and watched them play, throwing in funny comments and doing things like stacking the leftover game pieces. When The White Rabbit was explaining that he had some "house rules", where he had altered some of the game's rules to suit his idea of fun play, I asked him if he'd add a rule that anyone whose game piece wore a "pig hat" would automatically win. I pointed to one of the extra game pieces, on top of which I'd balanced one of the pigs used to keep track of points.

Batman was sitting in a corner playing a handheld game he just bought. He had found the Holy Grail and decided to keep it for himself instead of turning it over to the god for whom he was working. I advised him to invest in some "smite-proof armor."

When we were about to leave, The March Hare asked to get some photographs of us. By this point in the evening, we'd changed into more casual clothes, although The Gryphon was still wearing the violet shirt.

Then, at home, we opened a bottle of red wine we'd bought at a wine festival earlier this summer and we spent a romantic evening together. The Gryphon was talking about places he might like to have a reception. I took note of them but wanted to just bask in the glory for awhile.

If you want to hear more of his thoughts about the night, he wrote about it in his LiveJournal.

Of all the guys I've ever been involved with, The Gryphon is definitely the best match for me in terms of personality, interests and goals. We treat each other well, always finding a way to resolve conflicts before they escalate. We genuinely enjoy our time together, and we have a lot of fun. Ours is a romance with a firm foundation of friendship, and we support each other and help one another to grow.

And that's the beauty of our love: every day it grows more and more beautiful. And yet, like a romantic restaurant with mismatched silverware, it's real.

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

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