Chris & Melinda Are Getting Married: The Proposal

Do you see that brown door on the corner? That's where it happened. On the other side of that door is Table 5 (Which happens to be a historical table for The Carter House. Their wine brand is called "Table 5.") and that is where we were sitting.

Our four-year anniversary was on Tuesday, January 15th and we decided we wanted to do the five-course dinner at 301 like we had twice before. It's a lot of fun! You end up sitting, chatting, drinking wine and eating great food for about three hours and we've always had a good time doing it. Unfortunately, the week before we went to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and Chris had shaken a lot of hands without keeping hand sanitizer on-hand. The day of our anniversary arrived and he was sick as a dog. Driving to Arcata to run an errand was enough to totally exhaust him but he was still insistent on going to dinner. It just didn't make sense to me. If he can't taste his food and he's going to be miserable the whole time, what's the point of going out? So the night of our actual anniversary was spent at home. I made Won Ton Soup and we watched the Weird Al classic, "UHF." Chris was probably asleep by 9 and that was fine. We said we'd wait a few days and revisit the idea of going out to dinner.

Friday rolled around and Chris proclaimed that he felt much better! And we ARE going out to dinner! And we have a reservation! Restaurant 301 at the Carter House is one of our favorite places for special dinners. We have spent three of the last four anniversaries eating here, last year being the year we decided to try Laurrapin instead. We like to get the Discovery Menu which is a five course meal: soup, appetizer, intermezzo, main course and dessert. Usually we get the paired wine flight with it which is a lot of fun. Dinner usually lasts about three hours and we always thoroughly enjoy ourselves.

This year, Chris suggested we bring our own bottle of wine because he's always disappointed that most dishes happen to get paired with sparkling white wines and all we really want is a good red throughout dinner and a glass of port with dessert. Chris' landlord, Dave had given Chris a really nice bottle of red wine (because he knew what was up) so we brought that instead to enjoy. This means we got a little wine table next to us with a decanter.

Dinner was absolutely delicious. We both got different things so that we could share and trade. I had: The Mushroom Soup, Crab Won Ton, intermezzo of lemon sorbet (it doesn't taste the same without a shot of Grey Goose over it), the Chicken Breast which had this delicious crispy skin and the Chocolate Chip Creme Bruelle for dessert. Chris had the same soup, Smoked Goose Breast, sorbet intermezzo, Braised Beef Shanks and a Cherry Crepe for dessert. Seriously delicious.

Chris during the main course. I wanted to make sure there were pictures of him too! You can tell he's up to something, can't you? I had no idea...

After the main course, we had finished the wine and were being a little goofy and Chris brought up what my Mom calls, "The Washing Machine for my Finger." This refers to the fact that for my birthday this year, Chris bought me a washing machine despite that rule against buying gifts that are actually housework for women. I told my Mom that a washing machine is way more useful than jewelry and I was quite pleased. I can't do my laundry in a ring! So it became a joke. And then the conversation went something like this:

C: "So what kind of ring would you want anyway?"

M: "Nothing too fancy. I don't need a big rock. Just something personal."

C: "You want a Stargate..."*

M: "Well yeah but it's super expensive..."

C: "Besides, the dryer will probably crap out before I'd be able to afford a diamond anyway."

M: *makes a pouty face thinking he's referring to the brand new washing machine* But we just got that...

C: "No, the dryer. Not the washer."

M: "Oh okay..."

C: "How would you want me to propose? Would you want me to get down on one knee?"

M: "It's up to you. You can if you want to..."

C: "Would you want me to move this wine table that is seriously in my way?"

M: "Wait what?"

C: "That's it, I'm moving the wine table!"

Chris got up from his chair, moved the wine table to one side, got down on one knee in front of me and pulled a small black box out of his pocket. When he opened it, I started crying.

C: "These last four years have been the happiest of my life and I would be so happy to spend the rest of my life with you. I only want to do this once. Will you marry me?"

M: *whale noises*

C: "Marry me?"

M: "Yeeees!!!"

We kissed and I slipped the ring onto my finger. It fits perfectly. I sort of hear some clapping but we aren't really paying attention. Chris gets back up off the floor and says, "I don't think anyone noticed." On cue, to glasses of champagne arrive. "Oh, I guess someone did." We held hands and stared at my beautiful ring and Chris told me about how he had been planning to do this for awhile and how he got the ring and how my parents already know. He said he had wanted so badly to tell me after Christmas that when he asked my Dad for my hand, Dad said, "Cool." Somehow that's the perfect thing to say.

The ring.

Me right after the proposal. Still crying.

We enjoyed our desserts, held hands and I tried not to cry more. We couldn't wipe the smiles off of our faces. As we sat and basked two sweet older women who were sitting a couple tables over came over to tell us how much joy it brought them to be able to witness this event tonight. It had made their night special. One of the ladies said she had been married for twenty-seven years and it was a blessing she was thankful for every single day. It was a beautiful thing for me to have these women as witnesses to our love and I am thankful for them, too.