The details

November 24, 2011

After listening to me gripe and feel sorry for myself about having gained the (more than) obligatory "welcome home" weight all night, Malcolm told me I looked beautiful and said he would take me on a walk through his childhood neighbourhood if it would make me feel better. I accepted.

We walked and we talked and he pointed out the places that meant a lot to him having shared memories there with his late grandfather. Crossing a bridge on the way home, we paused for a moment, watching the traffic pass beneath us. A moment later, Malcolm turned to me.

    "I have a secret...I bought you something."
    "What is it? Electronics?" (our secret joke for "engagement ring")
    "Maybe."

At this point, I didn't take it to be something very serious. We'd kidded about it often so it wasn't something completely out of character.

    "You know, you're not supposed to TELL me about that."
    "But I don't want it to be a secret anymore."

And with that, he dropped to one knee, and, holding my hand, told me how much he loved me and asked me to marry him. Before he'd finished his first sentence--perhaps before his knee even hit the ground--I was already crying. Speechless, I nodded at first and then eeked out a "yes."

He stood up and we kissed. Then he opened up his left hand one finger at a time to reveal...and empty palm. :) Before I could figure out what it meant, I felt him slide a ring onto my finger with his right hand and smile. I was smiling and laughing and sobbing all at once. From there we walked back to his home in Penang where we shared the news with his family and they welcomed me (still sobbing) with open arms to the family.