Tonight at midnight it will have been 8 years since G proposed to me. We'd been dating a little over a year and a half, and had finally talked about getting married a few months before. That first marriage talk was when he told me about his vasectomy. When Christmas rolled around, G gave me an adapter for the nice Yamaha keyboard he'd given me for my birthday, a gift certificate to Camelot records and a repair kit for my car. All our friends and the people I worked with had assumed I'd get a ring, but I didn't. Garland still lived at his mom's house (he'd moved back in with her after his divorce), and on Christmas we were watching TV in his room, and I noticed a jewelry store bonus coupon on his bulletin board. I knew he must have bought some jewelry, and he hadn't given me or anyone in his family any, so I had a feeling he'd bought a ring, but wasn't sure. I'm not suspicious enough to think he'd bought anyone else any jewelry. He didn't really want to go anywhere on New Year's Eve, and we watched movies and ate Chinese takeout at my apartment. I went to the kitchen to do something and heard him digging in his overnight bag and I heard what sounded like a jewelry box snap, but was trying not to imagine things. At midnight, he said, "how'd you like to start the New Year off like this?" I said, "like what?" He gestured to his other hand, which was holding out my ring. It was a nice start to 1996!

Happy New Year, everyone!