 | After being accepted into graduate school in China I was faced with a very difficult decision, I would have to leave my love for a whole year. I had done the long distance before, so i was a little apprehensive to say the least. However, i knew that what we had was something special. Like your best friend, it doesn't matter how long you are apart, when you get back together it is like no time has passed.
We went half a year without seeing each other out of "the box," which we called Skype. The days and nights were long, so the day that he came to China I was more than ecstatic! Prior to his arrival I was talking to my dad. He went on to tell me about his day and what he did that weekend, and so on. Then he said, : Oh, you know who came to breakfast with me this weekend, Vidal." I went on to say, "Oh how sweet," of course being none the wiser. Dad went on to say, "Yeah, and he asked me if he could have your hand in marriage." I screamed into the phone, " Dad!! Thats supposed to be a secret!!" He replies in a shocked tone, "Really, no one told me that, just act like you don't know!" After we got off the phone i was filled with emotions, happy, excited and a little bummed that my proposal secret just got blown. The true test came when Vidal finally made it to China, how on earth was I going to hide something this big from him. Needless to say the hiding it part went right out the window after a couple cocktails. I am the worst secret keeper ever!!
My family and Vidal spent almost 3 weeks in China. We had a great time touring both Shanghai and Beijing. It was Chinese New Year, so were enjoying the fact that in a country of 1.3 billion people, the 2 most populated cities had been deserted due to people traveling back to their home towns.
Our special moment came on a freezing day in Beijing while on The Great Wall. We had just arrived and we were practically the only ones around, very surreal. Just before climbing the Wall we gathered for a picture overlooking the valley. First, my sisters and I, then one with mom and the girls and then me and Vidal. After our photo opt, he dropped to one knee and said the sweetest things. None of which i can remember word for word, partly due to my excitement and partly to my bad memory. Thank goodness we have video. :)
The gloves came off my hands so quickly i almost threw them over the side of the ledge. Only then to be presented with a huge, hideous, yellow gold ring with huge ornate gems that must have been 4 sizes too big!!!! Shocked at how he could have gotten something so important, so wrong, I nevertheless smiled and teared up. Thankfully that in fact was not my ring. My ring was a beautiful diamond ring. Overwhelmed with emotions we kissed, smiled until our cheeks hurt, took a ton more pictures and then enjoyed the Great Wall all to ourselves. It was the perfect proposal, I couldn't have asked for anything more! |
