The Authoritative history of Annie and Roo: Part IV

Six signs you should say yes when he asks you to marry him:

Sign 1: He takes you to Italy.

There are some places–-the men’s bathroom at a roadside truck stop, for one—where, if someone asks you to marry him, you may need to seriously consider saying no. Italy, however, is a pretty safe bet.
In 2004, Roo’s very gracious, very generous parents were taking their son on a trip to Europe and I was lucky enough to be the friend he got to bring along. We had been dating for about ten months…

Sign 2: For dinner, you find yourself in a charming Tuscan farmhouse that has been converted into a restaurant…In fact, he could take you to a charming Tuscan outhouse that has been converted into a restaurant and you’d still be on the right track.
It’s Tuscany.

Sign 3: Your soon-to-be fiancé is not laughing diabolically without any apparent reason.
Chances are, if he were actually a maniacal supervillain bent on marrying you only because it served as part of his greater plan to destroy the United States, he would be pretty pleased with himself right now.
At dinner that night, Roo was acting awfully strange—goofy, awkward, and fidgety—but he never let out any diabolical, supervillain laughter. So I knew I was safe.

Sign 4: He follows through despite unforeseen circumstances.

Unbeknownst to me, for the week we’d been in Italy, Roo’s mother had been carrying my engagement ring around in her fanny pack everywhere we went, just so that Roo would always be prepared should the perfect moment suddenly arise. As we were eating dinner, I noticed Roo’s dad make a secret “meet-me-in-the-men’s-room” motion to Roo, and they both left the table abruptly. When he got Roo alone, his dad informed him that he had already tipped the accordion player to serenade us so Roo could propose. Roo hadn’t necessarily planned on doing it that night, nor had I expected it at all, but he decided to go for it anyway. There’s no turning back once you tip an accordion player…

Sign 5: You are in a garden being serenaded by a strong-smelling accordion player

Roo came back from the men’s room and asked me if I wanted to go for a walk—a strange thing to ask a woman while she’s in the middle of eating ravioli. He led me out into a pretty little courtyard, sat me down on a stone bench, and cut right to the chase—he told me he loved me and that he wanted to marry me and then asked if I would marry him.
In the half second before answering, I weighed my options. I thought about the inside of my closet door at home, covered in cut-out magazine pictures of all the places I’d planned to visit before settling down and getting married. I was sure, after all, that my dreams of traveling the world would surely be hampered by marriage—that marriage, though important and meaningful, made for a fairly boring life. But I looked around and thought, “hey, look where I am. I made it to Italy. This can be enough for me. And there is no one I would rather be bored with than Roo. Plus I love him.”

Sign 6: You say yes even before seeing the ring

I, of course, said yes. At which point everyone emerged from the restaurant to congratulate us—Roo’s teary-eyed mom, camera in hand, Roo’s dad, our tour guide, our tour guide’s son, the accordion player, the accordion player’s mom was probably there too…

I was shaking and laughing a lot, still in shock from deciding upon the new and happy direction my life was about to take.


One Sign you made the right choice by saying yes:
(you mean, besides the fact that you get to have a Star Wars themed wedding reception?!)

He makes your dreams come true.

Italy & Romania 2004

England, Scotland, Wales - 2005

Victoria, B.C. - 2006

France and Alaska - 2007
New York - 2008

Turns out married life is not as boring as I'd imagined.