She Said Yes!
Embankment, London, UK
Male, age 36
Airplane food had never been something that I really gave much thought to. I’d get on a plane for my annual holiday in the sun and maybe the odd mini-break, a flight attendant would give me some food, and I would eat it up like the inconspicuous passenger and inconspicuous kind of guy I am.
Then one day, I accidently ate someone else’s meal on a flight to LA. We had switched seats so that she could sit with her friends, but the special meal she had ordered was attached to her seat number. By the time the regular food trolley had reached her, her lactose and gluten free vegan meal was long gone. I had eaten it.
The flight attendant looked like she may have a nervous break down, so I offered to go and speak to the girl whose seat I had taken and explain it was my fault. I rummaged in my bag for the emergency banana I had picked up at Pret a Manger at Heathrow, and headed over to apologize.
Accepting my banana peace offering with a massive smile, she could not have been more gracious, understanding, or giggly. Had it been me, I would not have been so calm about everything, but she was simply amused. She was obviously the type of person to not let things get to her; exactly the type of person I strived to be, and as cool as the cucumber I had just eaten from her special meal.
She assured me she would survive the nine hours until touch down but if I felt really bad, I could take her out for dinner when we landed. My stomach flipped. Not only did this girl have a fabulous smile and most infectious laugh I’d ever heard, she seemed to be unflappable… and she could pull off the vaguely cheesy lines I could only conjure when mulling things over in my head afterwards. You know the thought ‘oh man, I should have said this.’
Out of my comfort zone would be an understatement, but I jumped at the chance and asked her if she had a favorite place that served non-dairy, wheat-free, vegan food in LA. Of course she did. And so after nine hours of half-heartedly reading my book and watching movies, and making way too many trips to the toilet just so I could smile at her, I neglected to pick up my hire-drive holiday car and jumped in a taxi with her and her friends to a cool little restaurant in Venice beach. Jetlag be damned, an adventure had begun.
How does someone who lives in London know all the cool places up and down Route 1? How do they have so many friends in so many places? It was a mystery to me, and still is, but she seemed to know everything about everything and everyone. I got swept up in it. She left her friends to join me for a few days, and she showed me a California I would only ever have scratched the surface of.
When she came back to London 3 weeks later, she continued to wow me by showing me parts of the city I had called home for 15 years but had no idea existed. A breath of fresh air, a door opener, my teacher… Call her what you will, but I was hooked. I was also terrified. I don’t want to lose her and want to be surrounded by her radiance and live with such zest as she does. I no longer feel inconspicuous, I feel incredible.
The journey is only just beginning. I know I have a long road ahead of me to keep up with her for ever after, but I happily want to do so. After only 3 months of knowing her I bought a ring and for two weeks the big question of “will she or won’t she?” has been racing around through the clouds in my brain like a fighter jet. I’ve been waiting for a good moment, waiting to pull the ring out from my pocket and waiting to hear what she would say to an idea I never would have thought possible only a few months ago.
Today was the day. As we walked along the embankment looking at statues I never knew existed, I took a chance...
I cannot believe my luck. I’m the happiest man on earth. She’s wearing the ring. She said yes!
