The Proposal

"You have bewitched me, body and soul.  I love you and never wish to be parted from you from this day on."  

Mr. Darcy to Elizabeth Bennett

Ian and Juliette

"You have bewitched me, body and soul.  I love you and never wish to be parted from you from this day on."  

Ian to Juliette

One of the wonderful things about raising sons is having an inside glimpse into "guy land".  I knew what a marriage proposal was like from a woman's point of view; in fact when I was Ian's age I  accepted a marriage proposal from his dad.  But I had a different perspective thinking about what a man goes through as I watched my son orchestrate the perfect proposal for The Lovely Juliette.

Julie has been "The Lovely Juliette" - in capitals, always lovely - since we first met .  Who wouldn't love a girl who regularly brings chocolate dipped strawberries to the house, enjoys hanging out watching movies, and is a talented artist?  So, naturally, I was thrilled when Ian called me up this year and told me that he intended to propose.

From that moment on I felt like I was part of an undercover assignment with a top-secret organization.  There was a ring to order, with funds from a secret account, delivered to a separate address.  Ideas for the ring needed to obtained by a friend through diversionary tactics.  The ring needed to be delivered to the UK using a private courier.  Locations for the proposal needed to be researched.  As it turns out, espionage has nothing on proposal planning!

 

Meanwhile, Ian was also taking care of some of the other formal rituals to a marriage proposal; specifically, asking Julie's dad for his blessing.  Mitch is a very nice man (a sentimental mensch according to stories Julie tells) but his intimidating "papa bear" tendencies are legendary (also from stories Julie tells!).  But Ian upheld this daunting part of tradition and invited Mitch to dinner.

Plans continued on both sides of the Atlantic.  Julie is a huge Jane Austen fan and one of her favorite movies is the 2005 version of "Pride and Prejudice".  Ian was determined to find the spot in England where Darcy proposes to Elizabeth in the rain.

The ring, a beautiful Maine tourmaline, arrived with my friend Barb.  Abbie did the research to discover that the location for the "Pride and Prejudice" shot was a formal English garden called Stourhead in Wiltshire, at the Temple to Apollo.  Mitch, apparently enjoying his hamburger at Denny's, said, "Sure, go ahead and ask."    (I'm paraphrasing, but I'm sure it was something along those lines!)

At last the fateful day arrived.  Ian and Julie had been in England a week and we drove down to Stourhead.  It was beautiful!  The gardens were built around a man-made lake created in the 1700's.  A path around the lake, intended to evoke Aeneas' descent into the underworld from Greek mythology, includes several temples to the gods.  There are also stone bridges, a grotto, a gothic cottage and other classic landmarks.

Temple of Apollo from a distance

The gardens were in full color, with all of the azaleas and rhododendrons in bloom.  It was stunning! We toured the estate and then began our walk around the lake, stopping at monuments and admiring the incredible views.

View through the trees

Owl Tree

Lilypads

Romantic Cows

Hobbit Pass

Entrance to the Grotto

Inside the Grotto

Julie looking out over the lake

Thomas Kinkade cottage

Pantheon

Temple to Flora and stone bridge

View of the Lake

At last we climbed the hill to Apollo's Temple.  I discreetly stopped to rest while they went on to the monument.  And, in a movie-perfect flourish, Ian dropped to one knee and recited Darcy's proposal.  The Lovely Juliette said a tearful "yes" and they were engaged.

The engaged couple

When we talked about it a few days later I told Ian how proud I was of the way he had gone about planning this loving gesture, and also how thrilled I was that Julie would be officially joining our family.  He explained, "Mom, hopefully I'm only going to do this once in my life.  I wanted to make sure I did it right."  Mission accomplished!

Bristol High Cross