I was busy editing away last night when I received a text message from Matt. He was downstairs, whipping up a new display cabinet for our entryway. Apparently he’d left a ‘treat’ for me on the dresser in our bedroom, should I need a distraction. Really, I never need an excuse to get distracted, but a treat’s as good as any.
I was completely surprised (though I shouldn’t have been) to find a film canister (yes, those things do still exist) wrapped in pretty paper, with a big fat pink bow on top. You may be wondering right now why he’d give me a film canister as a ‘treat’, but I had no doubts – I knew exactly what it was about.
Rewind 10 years.
I was working in a photographic lab, doing bits of everything really; printing, framing, camera sales. I’d been there for a couple of years, and it was a small family run business, so I’d gotten to know a great deal of the people that came in and out of the doors – some of them are still good friends 10 years on. One particular day, on a quiet afternoon, a regular customer came in and placed a film canister on the bench (this was when film was still cool) and left, before giving me any instructions. Odd, but I figured she just trusted me to do things the way we usually did them for her. I pried the lid off and flicked it open, and was quickly showered with confetti. Why on earth would anyone fill a film canister with confetti? But wait. Taped to the inside of the lid was a ring. A diamond ring. I quickly flicked my head up, looking to see where she’d gone. Surely she’d dropped the wrong canister off – or something very weird was going on. I saw her head peering around the corner, and she gave me a little wave then disappeared.
Huh?
My gaze was averted by a movent on the other side of the door, and I was totally shocked when I looked over to see Matt standing there. That’s when the penny dropped. The confetti. The diamond ring. Matt.
And here we are 10 years later.
About 2 months ago one of the shoulders on my ring broke, so I removed it with the intention of getting it repaired. I’m beginning to think now that perhaps it was sabotaged – as he got to give it back to me again, all shiny and new, in perfect time, and the perfect manner, to celebrate 10 years of being engaged.
Did I not marry the most perfectly sweet and romantic man alive.
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