Trivial Pursuit, anyone?

So can you tell I’m having a slow day at work today since I’m here blogging… Anyway, I promised the story of how Ron proposed and I didn’t want to leave it hanging.

So, a few things to know first. Ron is very into trivia and (at least back before we had kids) liked buying and playing different versions of Trivial Pursuit. At the time he worked for Kinko’s (now FedEx Kinko’s). Also, the story of how we met involves two other couples – my close friend Kristi and her husband, Steve, and Ron’s friend Jean and her husband, Chris. Not to confuse anyone (although I’m sure I will – see if you can follow this…), but basically Kristi and Chris were friends before and while Chris was dating Jean. Kristi played the piano in Chris and Jean’s wedding. While I knew of Chris and had met him a couple of times (and Jean once), I really didn’t know him well. Ron was a friend of Jean’s and he was a groomsman in her and Chris’ wedding. Basically, everyone (but me) was at this wedding, the summer of 1998. A few months later, Chris and Jean got everyone who had been in their wedding back together for Jean’s birthday. Again, I wasn’t there, but apparently somehow it came up that Kristi had this single female friend and Jean mentioned Ron (who was at the other end of the table) who was also single. One thing led to another which led to them asking Ron if he would want to meet me. He said sure, but wanted Kristi to make sure it was ok with me first. The first I knew of any of this was when Kristi asked me out of the blue whether I was interested in meeting this guy who had been in Chris and Jean’s wedding and was a friend of Jean’s. I had gotten out of a messy relationship over a year before and hadn’t really dated since, so said sure. Kristi said she’d pass my e-mail address along to him. He then e-mailed me and we talked over e-mail and phone for a couple of weeks before we met in person, in October of 1998.

The night after our first date, Ron went home and told his dad (he lived with his parents at the time) that he’d met his future wife. It took me a few dates further before I was sure, but by December, we were looking at engagement rings and planning a future together. I picked out my ring (well the set – the diamond engagement ring with 2 small diamonds on one side and the band which had the 2 small diamonds for the other side of the larger one), and knew that Ron had purchased it (the lovely joys of credit!), but didn’t know when he was planning to propose. The only things I asked were that he wait until after Christmas so it wouldn’t seem quite so rushed to my family and I really didn’t want it to be a huge deal, more a quiet, private proposal. Well, even though he failed on both counts, I still ended up saying yes anyway. ;)

So, Ron had gotten the new (at the time anyway) version of Trivial Pursuit – I can’t remember specifically which right now. He was all excited to get together with our friends to play it, so we all planned a game night over at Kristi and Steve’s apartment, 2 days before Christmas. The 6 of us (the two couples mentioned earlier, plus Ron and I) started playing the game. I didn’t know this until later, but pretty much everything about this particular game of Trivial Pursuit was completely planned out and scripted, down to who went first and who pulled which trivia card from which box. I was the last person to read a question on the first turn. I forget which category the question was for, but it really didn’t matter. I got as far as reading, “At what time on December 23, 1998 did Ronald S. ask Deb H…” and I just remember thinking in my head, wow this version is really up to date! Then I realized that both Ron’s and my names were on the card so I looked up in confusion. At this point, Ron got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. After I said yes, and he put the ring on my finger, everyone else started laughing at the completely dumbstruck look I’d had on my face. We do have pictures somewhere – I believe my face was a bright, beet red. I’ll try to dig one up – or maybe not. :)

So I guess that Ron had hatched the plan and got the other 4 people to buy in. He dummied up the Trivial Pursuit card at work (Kinko’s remember – the center of the photocopying world) – hopefully I’m not violating any copyright things here, but the card was only used that one time and has resided in a box of wedding keepsakes ever since. I think Ron laminated it though. It looks exactly like a ‘real’ card from that version of the game, but the question for every category (since one thing they couldn’t predict is what color the person I would read the question to would land on) was some version of, “At what time on December 23, 1998, did Ronald S. ask Deb H. to marry him?” I think I wrote the answer down on the card somewhere later on – Ill have to see if I can find it. The 5 of them then planned out the game, down to who sat where and that everyone would answer incorrectly so that I would hit the right card in the box at the right time. Somehow I missed out completely on the tension in the room that night – they were all waiting to see if it worked out. It did – perfectly. I was completely clueless. And even though it wasn’t the quiet, after-Christmas proposal that I’d asked for, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So Ron does have a history of surprising me. Although, now that I think about it, other than that time and one surprise birthday party the following fall, he hasn’t really done a big major surprise since. I think I’m due a good one then! I’ll have to drop some more ring hints…

Oh, in case you’re wondering – the game of Trivial Pursuit never was finished. Nobody really had wanted to play an actual game anyway, so once the proposal excitement was over, we skipped the rest of it. We are still friends with the other 2 couples, even though Chris and Jean now live in Wisconsin – Kristi and Steve live about 10 minutes away from Ron and I, and we get together on a regular basis. All four of them were in our wedding in May of 2000 and we 3 couples now have 6 kids between us (our 3 girls, Kristi and Steve have 2 boys, and Chris and Jean have a daughter).

And yes, I have surprised him too on a couple of occasions, but that’ll have to wait for a future post since this one is getting rather long and I really should get some work done. :)