Yolanda and I met up for dinner on Friday night. She had called me a few days earlier to tell me her big news: She and Kelvin just got engaged. I pulled into the Albertson's parking lot and tried to find a spot. I hate parking in San Diego. The spots are always so narrow. But I finally found one and pulled in. Then I went to go find Yolanda. She was waiting for me at a Teriaki fast-food place called Samuri Sam's.
"Hi Yolanda! Congratulations!" I'm so happy for you!" I gave Yolanda a big hug.
She was in the midst of ordering but paused to respond, "Thank you so much! I'm so excited!"
I said hello to Dennis too. Yolanda had called me just a bit earlier to tell me that she was already at the restaurant, and had run into him there. I ordered my food, got my drink, and then sat down at the table where Dennis was sitting.
"Did you guys plan this?" I asked, referring to how they were both at the same restaurant at the same time.
"No, it just sort of happened," Yolanda said.
Dennis added, "Yeah, I was just going to get this to go and then go watch the US Open."
"Well this is cool," I said, "Good times. How is school going for you? Didn't you start this week?" I asked Dennis.
"Yeah, I have one honors section, and the rest are regular," Dennis is teaching chemistry at one of the local high schools,
"It's going pretty well." At that point in time, our food started to arrive. After we were all situated with food, utensils, and appropriate sauces, we prayed for our meal.
Then Dennis asked Yolanda, "So, are you wearing your ring on a chain?"
Yolanda laughed. "No, it's getting resized. It's too big."
"What size ring do you wear?" I asked.
"I'm a six. I have pretty small fingers," She said. I gave her my ring to try on. "Yeah, this is a bit too big," she told us. "Is this a six?"
"Yes, but it might be on the big side," I told her. She handed my ring back.
"So did he ask you on the mountain?" Dennis asked. Yolanda and Kelvin had been in Vancouver for a vacation, and did some hiking while they were there. Dennis and Kelvin are good friends, and Dennis knew that Kelvin would be asking Yolanda while they were on vacation.
"No," Yolanda told us, "He told me later he was going to, but when we were there, it was cold, rainy, and foggy. It wouldn't have been as good a moment. We were freezing that day. He actually proposed to me the next day. We went on a hike, and then on the way back, we got bored and started going off the trail. We were standing in this beautiful clearing, and he handed me this poorly wrapped package and told me to open it. It was a turtle that he had painted. Then he asked me if I would marry him. I was so surprised! And then I asked him if the turtle was the ring."
"You know, cause us girls are all about the ring!" I told Dennis.
Yolanda laughed, "You know it!"
"So where was the ring?" Dennis asked.
"It was in the turtle. You know how ceramic things are hollow?" She asked us. We both nodded our heads. "Well," she continued, "The hole in the turtle was plugged with a plastic thing, and the ring was inside."
"You know why he sold his car right?" Dennis asked Yolanda.
"Well, now I do," Yolanda exclaimed, "He told me that he had a friend who needed a car and so he decided to lend it to him indefinitely. Well, it was a very Kelvin kind of thing to do." We laughed. There was a comfortable silence.
Yolanda thought for a minute and then informed us, "I think I'm worth at least a cow." Dennis and I both started laughing again.
"Yeah, two goats at least!" I added.
"And a few sheep and some chickens! I always wanted some chickens." She told us.
"Well, a woman's worth used to be tied up in the land that her family owned, so a dowry was paid to compensate the family for the loss of their land and their daughter." I told them. "And somehow a woman's worth also got tied up in her virginity too." I thought for a minute, "I'm still not exactly sure why, but virginity was a really big deal. It still sort of is today." We thought about that. "Did you know that the reason why you wear the ring on your fourth finger is because it was believed that there was a vein that ran from that finger to your heart?" I both asked and informed them, "I did a research project on the symbolism in medieval marriage in college."
"Really?" Yolanda asked.
"Yes, it was quite an interesting project," I told her. "I had trouble finding resources cause nobody wrote anything in the medieval ages except for monks and priests. Did you know that the bride and the groom would exchange shoes as a symbol of the contract? The ring is a symbol of eternity of course, and in the morning after the consumation of the marriage, it was traditional for the groom to leave a gift on his new wife's pillow to compensate and thank her for the loss of her virginity."
Dennis and Yolanda both laughed at that.
"I think you should tell Kelvin about that tradition," Dennis suggested with a gleam in his eye. We all laughed.
"Did you know he was going to ask you when he did?" Dennis asked.
"I had no idea," Yolanda told him. "I was so surprised. If he had proposed to me on the mountain top, it would have been more predictable. But I liked this better anyway. You know, there are hundreds of clearings off of that trail, I don't think we could find the spot again if we tried. I was sort of lost."
"But you can spend the rest of your lives trying to find it again," I informed her, "That's pretty neat."
"Yeah, and I kind of feel like it was an analogy for marriage, you know? Climbing up the mountain, going off the beaten path, but coming back to the trail in the end. It's something you have to work at, but God is guiding you to beautiful places."
"That is cool. What did you say when he asked you?" I asked.
"I was like, 'Really?' She said.
"You really said, 'Really?' I asked, "That's really funny." I started laughing. So did Dennis.
"Hey, look who's here!" I said. I had a view of the door and saw Kelvin coming in. Dennis and Yolanda turned to see who it was.
"Hey!" Yolanda greeted Kelvin. "We were just talking about you."
"Congratulations!" Dennis told him.
"Yeah, congratulations!" I echoed. "I told Yolanda when she called to tell me you guys were engaged that I had been thinking about you a few days earlier, and I thought to myself, 'I think they're going to get married.'"
"Yeah, she told me that. It's so nice when people can confirm those kinds of things for you" Yolanda said. "It's really encouraging."
"Well, I think it's great. I'm so excited for you guys." I replied.
There is more to this conversation... Part II coming soon...I'm too tired to finish this right now.
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