The Proposal, pt. II (the presentation)

I had considered making the proposal in November, when Sandi came for Thanksgiving. But since the ring wasn't nearly ready by Thanksgiving, the proposal would have to be the next time I saw her. Since I was going back to Tennessee for the Winter break, it would have to be some time then. Or, Christmas, New Year's or some other random time. But since I could not stop talking about all of my going about finding a ring, I told Sandi that I was working on her “Christmas Present,” and figured I might as well just follow through on what I was telling her all along, that I would be getting her a very special Christmas present. So now the presentation... I wanted it to be a real present, something to be placed under a tree and unwrapped on Christmas. But I also did not want something as obvious as just keeping it in the box it came in. And I didn't want to really say anything or do anything overly cliched such as getting on one knee and making a speech. So the alternative would be to write something out. In lieu of trying to come up with something myself, I decided to use the proposal scene from her favorite book, Jane Eyre. Abridged, it reads:

And your will shall decide your destiny, I offer you my hand, my heart... I ask you to pass life by my side—to be my second self, and my best earthly companion. My bride is here... because my equal is here, and my likeness. Jane, will you marry me? Will you be mine? 

And I would sign it as Kostya, one of the protagonists from Anna Karenina, my favorite book. Initially, I was going to find an old copy of the book and cut or photocopy the text, but the Strand never seemed to have a sufficiently vintage copy and even if they did, it wouldn't really be worth destroying a book and wouldn't hold up well to abridgment. Typesetting it would be lack-luster, but professional calligraphy is also very very expensive. So it fell on me to write it out long-handed. I have experimented with some crude calligraphy before, so I felt reasonably comfortable tackling to task myself. I bought a fountain pen, but that wasn't sufficiently calligraphy-like, so I tromped downtown to a calligraphy convention. There I found some good calligraphy paper and bought a used calligraphy pen. After much practice, I came up with a good working copy.

But a single small rectangle does not make a very good present. Luckily, I found a wonderful vehicle for note delivery when I was combing through wedding blogs looking for ring designers. Putting it all together:
 

With everything ready, I was prepared to pack it all up for Christmas. But I was determined to hold onto the ring itself, so it was not wrapped with the note itself. I still wanted to be able to present her the ring myself. 


All ready: