October 1, 2004
"This is your captain speaking.....we're now cruising at an altitude of *bzzzzz* feet and will be reaching Esperance in approximately an hour. Enjoy the flight...*bzzzz*"
I looked over at Glen who was staring fascinated out the window.
"Sweetie, what are you looking at?"
"Oooooooh...umm...I can see someone swimming in their backyard." he mumbled feebly.
"Uhhhh...riiiight" I said. He smiled at me, and squeezed my hand.
Hmm...strange, I thought. Usually by now, we would be chatting excitedly on the plane, laughing at our usual silly jokes and jumping up and down in our seats like badly-behaved school children on red cordial.
It was the last long weekend of the year and we had both been working hard at our new jobs for nearly three months now. We were tired. We needed a break - we needed to jump on a plane and get the hell out of Perth for a couple of days.
A few weeks ago, Glen and I decided to head down south to Esperance, a small town tucked away on the southern coast of Western Australia. We've heard how beautiful the place is so we decided to fly down on one of WA's local planes - a Skywest Fokker Jet.
Of course, we had to say 'Fokker' jet at least 5 times every time we talked about this. (There are two fokkers in WA - the small fokker, ie the 'babyfokker' holds 50 people and went to Esperance, the Mother Fokker goes to Broome)
Anyway, skip back to the plane :)
"Glen, are you okay? You're kinda....freaking me out right now."
He grinned at me nervously. But I was still weirded out at this point. His eyes were unnaturally large and it looked more like he was baring his teeth in my direction.
"Uh yeah..I'm fine. I have to go to the bathroom. Be back soon," he said, before taking off and striding purposefully towards the back of the plane.
Normally, this would've set off alarm bells in my head but eh..I just figured he was excited to be on this trip. Knowing me and how oblivious I am, the processes in my mind were like...
"Hrmm Glen is getting weird I wonder why...la..laaaaa...laaaa...ooh airplane food!"
Dinner was roast beef and baby potatoes. Mmm I'm liking these Fokkers more and more now..
After dinner was cleared, Glen turned to me and kissed me on the cheek.
"Hey, guess what? I have a present for you...!" he said, and pulled out a purple bag from under the seat in front of him.
He held the bag out to me, grinning from ear to ear.
"This is just to say thank you for being so great the past few months, putting up with me and everything. I hope you like it," he said.
I opened the bag and pulled out a shiny black shoe box with my favourite brand 'Sachi' printed on the top.
I squealed excitedly (c'mon...what kinda girl would I be if I didn't squeal?) and clapped my hands. SHOES!! SHOES!! Gimme gimme gimmmmme!
I opened the box and saw.........
The most HIDEOUS pair of shoes I have ever seen in my life.
They were
1) Beige
2) Flats
3) Had a polyester lining
4) Looked like they could be worn for *ugh* ORTHOPAEDIC purposes - like they were made for a school nurse named 'Madge'.
I gasped and turned to Glen who was still wearing the cutest expectant happy face I've ever seen.
"They're...umm.....GREAT!" I proclaimed weakly, trying to hide the dry retches that were beginning at the back of my throat. "Thanks love, that's so sweet of you."
He clapped his hands together with glee.
"Put them on! Put them on!"
"Uh..you mean right now?"
"Yeaaah...go on! Go on!"
I pulled out the purple tissue in the right shoe and gingerly slipped my foot into it, cautiously wriggling my toes and trying to make myself LIKE that weird foamy polyester lining inside.
"Oh..it's so...comfortable!" I said, trying to muster as much enthusiasm as I could. I mean, the guy bought me shoes. Even though as soon as I got home, I would burn them in a bin where they belong without Glen knowing, the thought was there...and it WAS sweet.
"Now put on the other one!!" he said, getting more excited than ever.
I pulled the purple tissue out of the left shoe.
There, tucked right inside, was a shiny black box.
I froze.
Glen smiled calmly and asked me "What is it, sweetie?"
I took the box out and stared at it.
He grabbed the box from my hand, got out of his seat and said "Excuse me for one second" before walking down the aisle to the front of the plane.
He nodded to the stewardesses who fiddled with some controls before handing him the speaker for the PA system.
I stared incredulously at him. It was as if I knew what he was doing but still couldn't believe he'd go through with it.
"Excuse me everyone, can I have your attention please?" he said.
50 passengers stopped what they were doing and looked at the stranger who seemed to have taken over the whole plane.
"Hi, my name is Glen and that girl in seat 7G is my beautiful girlfriend Sandra," he said, pointing over to me. At this time, my mouth was still wide open and my eyes became shiny with tears.
"I'd like to tell a story," he continued.
"This is a story about a boy who met a girl. As most boys did, he really liked the girl, and two bottles of passion pop later....(*chuckles from the passengers*) the boy and the girl got together. The boy had the best two years of his life being with this girl. She was smart, gorgeous, funny and they had a great time together. That is the old story. However, like The Hobbit (*Tolkien freak!*), all good stories must come to an end before a new one begins"
He took a breath. At this stage, I just sat there and let the tears flow openly down my cheeks. Thinking back on it, I probably looked hysterical but I didn't care.
"And now, it's time to end this story so I can open a new chapter to our lives. And I would like to end it by saying Sandra, I love you very much. Would you do me the honour of marrying me?"
Everyone gasped (*yeaaah right, like they didn't expect THAT to happen*). He walked over and pulled me out of the seat and down the aisle in front of 50 clapping strangers.
"I'm sorry love, but I have to do this," he said sheepishly and got down on one knee in front of me.
"Will you marry me?" he asked again.
I burst into tears again, and nodded...completely speechless.
He opened the box which had the most beautiful diamond ring in it (*pear shaped, white gold - great bling bling factor!) cradled in black velvet. He slipped the ring on my finger and gently pulled me in for a hug. I kissed him and we stared at each other for a while, burst into laughter and hugged again.
Meanwhile, everyone on the plane was yelling out "What did she say? What did she say?"
Glen pulled a thumbs up sign behind my back and everyone on the plane began cheering.
We eventually made our way back to the seat after being stopped by every well-wisher along the aisles (*well done* *good on you* *have a great life together* *good speech, dude!!*) The stewardesses came by with complimentary wine and peanuts, kissing us both on the cheeks.
After all the hubbub died down, Glen and I were still holding each other's hands tightly.
I kissed him again and said,
"Wow. Now what?"
---
p.s Wedding plans so far
- 10 April 2005 is the date.
- We have to do the honourary choge traditional tea ceremony and wedding banquet (as decreed by my parents). The wedding reception (which is for ourselves and 50 of our closest friends and family) will be held at Cafe Navona, where we first met.
- Planning to do the ceremony in our backyard around dusk (just before the reception, so our guests can just head on over to the restaurant as opposed to down the road to the pub) There's lots of trees, flowers, fairy lights, space for chairs and we'll have tea lights along the garden path (the only thing i need to worry about is stopping my dress from catching alight!)
- the only thing I'm worried about is cost because we're budgeting around $5000 for this shindig. Is that enough? My dress is only going to cost around $350 - I've picked out this silver satin number with a low back from a store in the city that sells ball dresses.
- Wedding songs. Any suggestions? I really like 'Gorecki' by Lamb for the walking down the aisle bit (i'm ALL for dramatic entrances). Any ideas for the wedding dance songs? Ceremony songs etc? | 
