A Merry Engagement

The happy couple.

Three years ago, amid The Wife's graduate school days, there was some financial uncertainty. It was decided that we should get a roommate. An ad went up on Craigslist and TW found what she hoped would be her new bestie.

Our new roommate was also a graduate student. She had just broken up with her boyfriend and was looking for a fresh start. 

She was also pregnant, she found out a couple of weeks later.

And that's how we met Nacho Man. 

There have been better photos
of both of us.

He was actually our second roommate. He paid his rent in cash and he worked at the bakery around the corner from our house. It turned out to be my new bestie.

And then the landlord's daughter, Sweet Molly Lu, came home from college. You've heard their story before. It's a classic tale of a boy who meets a girl but doesn't want to date the landlord's daughter because it will make things awkward; then they make out one night, fall in laaaaahve and TW and I had a de facto roommate and a second bestie for me.

Just like a Hollywood script.

If you're reading this, you've probably read a few of these MeSoFun blogs. You're thinking: "Where is the new information, you handsome, silver-tongued devil?" Well, a few months ago, or maybe a year ago, Nacho Man decided Molly Lu was going to be his wife. She had decided they were getting married years ago, but Nacho Man is more deliberate in his decision-making. Always. And in all matters. Deliberate. So. Delib. Er. Ate. Not that anyone would ever notice.

And so, in December, the great plan was hatched. For some reason, Nacho Man solicited advice. I told Nacho Man he should propose on the couple's "Drunk-a-versary," which we won't go into detail explaining. He didn't think that would be super appropriate. Appropriate, but not the mood he was shooting for. 

He spent weeks mulling over his option before the lightbulb over his head turned on. Nacho Man had a plan. The Fourth of July was Molly Lu's favorite holiday. Every year she spends an absurd amount of time sitting on a hillside overlooking Portland's bay. Nacho Man fetches food (such as chocolate-covered bacon) and drinks for her. And then there are explosions and everybody goes home smelling like sulfur. Just like our forefathers envisioned. 

She loves the Fourth of July. There's simply no reasoning with her on this issue. And, Nacho Man's logic says, more good things means more good things!*

* — Do not dine out with Nacho Man and expect to go home feeling like a person with a normal-size stomach.

Cinderella story.

With a plan hatched, Nacho Man's ring shopping went into high gear. High gear by Nacho Man standards, that is. First, you go shopping for a ring in December. Then you wait four months. Then you go shopping for a ring again and stop in five different stores. Then you wait a month and a half to pick up the ring. In summary, it took six months, two brewpub visits and two beer bar visits to pick out the ring.

Sweet Molly Lu, meanwhile, suggested in early spring that the Fourth of July would be a great day to get engaged. She said this to me, of course, knowing that I would turn around and tell Nacho Man. Dutifully, I played the game of telephone.

And with the Fourth of July drawing near, Molly Lu had a birthday party. Nacho Man found her some tickets to a Red Sox game and Molly Lu got excited. Then she got freaked out. Why would he buy her expensive Red Sox tickets? He only tolerates baseball because they have beer and nachos at the games. Was he going to propose to her at the game? That would be terrible, in front of all those people. Oh God. There was going to be a bunch of people at the fireworks for the Fourth. And her parents and step-mom would be sitting right next to them. 

The Fourth, Molly Lu decided, was not the day to get engaged. Not with all those people around. Not with her parents right there. The plan, six-plus months in the making, was cancelled. 

Startled, Nacho Man regrouped. He had to think fast, since everybody in the Western Hemisphere knew about his plans. Some of my Florida cousins, whom he has met maybe four times, knew they were getting engaged on the Fourth. (They like to ask about Nacho and Molly, as they like to stay informed about these issues. They're already lobbying for invitations to the wedding. *hint, hint*)

Nacho Man knows this much: He and Molly Lu like rocks. They have rock shelves. He covets forks and knives made out of rocks. With a precious rock in his pocket, he decided to take Molly Lu out to a rocky beach for a very Maine-y engagement.

They brought a picnic basket and some champagne out to a rocky beach. Just after Molly Lu commented on how nicely her backside fit into a groove in the rocks, Dan pulled out the ring. She made him ask if she would marry him a second time; presumably she was savoring the moment and not just dragging it out.

She said yes. Kissing happened. Some teenage girls made fun of them, then realized they had just gotten engaged and scurried off snickering. 

Plans began in earnest the next day, as Molly Lu picked up wedding magazines to plan for the Big Day. It will likely be a September 2015 wedding, probably in a park overlooking a rocky Maine beach. Give me a couple of drinks at the reception afterward and I'll tell you all about the Drunk-A-Versary.