It’s been a year…

It’s the 2nd July 2009, this time last year I was on my round the world trip. It was an amazing trip, and I would love to do it again, but unfortunately that’s unlikely. Being ‘Grown Up’ has it’s disadvantages too, there is a post coming about that soon.

More specifically, this day last year I was in Adelaide, South Australia. I was with the guys I was travelling with, a friend who moved to Adelaide a few years ago, and my then girlfriend, Lorraine. Adelaide was a lovely city, see my post about it here. It is also Lorraine’s favorite place in the world, so when it worked out we would both be there together I decided to propose.

Adelaide, South Australia

Most of you guys know I am engaged, and are probably wondering why I am talking about it now. Well it’s exactly a year since we got engaged, and I don’t think I ever told the story of the proposal. Today seems like a good day to tell it.

DISCLAIMER: I am a guy, so I probably won’t tell this as well as Lorraine would, so you can ask her as well.

We had been out and about in Adelaide all day. I had told Lorraine that it’s not often we’d be in Adelaide together so I was going to take her out for dinner.
I got our friend Shel to drop us off in Glenelg, and we headed to Cafe Esca. A lovely restaurant overlooking Glenelg jetty and beach, although it was dark so you couldn’t really see much out the window. We had a lovlely meal, and towards the end of the meal I nipped off to the loo, to practice what I was going to say, and to try and calm down, I was really nervous. I also phoned my friend Steve back home in Belfast, I don’t know why, but I did.

Lorraine and I went for a walk along the waterfront, and out on to Glenelg Jetty. When we got to the end of the jetty there was a bench, which I got Lori to sit down on. At this point I dropped to one knee, but here’s the funny thing, Lorraine was looking the other direction at the time, so when she looked around and saw me on the ground she assumed, not that I was about to propose, but instead that I had gone to sit down on the bench and missed. I reached into my bag and pulled out a Haribo ring, I will explain, and asked Lorraine to marry me. I also assured her that I was serious, and not just having a laugh. Her response was a giggle and tear filled yes.

On Glenelg Jetty

Now, the Haribo ring (gummy/jelly ring). I had been planning the proposal for a while, and months before we got engaged Lorraine and I had been joking that there was no way I could afford a proper ring and she would have to make do with a Haribo ring, jokingly she said, sure that’s fine as long as it is a red ring. So I posted a stack of red Haribo rings to Australia before I went.

Haribo Ring

After the proposal I then gave Lorraine a bag of about 45 red rings, one for each day until I saw her again. I was catching a flight to Sydney the next morning, and wouldn’t be back in Ireland until August 13th.
We spent some time just enjoying the moment, before going to The Dublin bar. Some of our friends were waiting there with champagne to congratulate us. It was really nice to have some of our closest friends to celebrate with, even though we were on the other side of the world. A few phone calls were made home, and that was the evening of July 2nd 2008.

Later on in the summer, near the end of our trip the 4 of us were in NYC. We were walking down 5th Avenue one morning, when we walked past Tiffany & Co. Alan suggest we go in for a laugh, to look at all the expensive crap we would never buy, or so I thought. We were directed by a big security guard to the engagement rings on the 2nd floor.

Tiffany & Co.

As we looked at the rings, one in particular caught my eye. I knew that it was exactly the style of ring that Lorraine wanted. With no intention of buying it, I asked the price. Last summer the exchange rate was pretty good and I was really surprised by the price. After a few days of deliberation and some phone calls home, on my last day in NYC I went in and bought the Platinum Solataire Princess cut engagement ring. I arrived home in Ballymena the next day, and gave the ring to Lorraine.

Photo by Emma Boyd - www.emmaboyd.co.uk

It’s now only 6 months until we get married. Hopefully we can continue to travel around the world together, including many more trips, and maybe even a move to Australia.

No doubt Lorraine will comment on this post with things I may have forgotten so keep an eye on the comments as well.