The Most Committed Time of Year

I like proposal stories, but I don't know why; my only defense is that I'm a girl, which is commonly known in the legal world as 'a defense of insanity.' I've had eight friends get engaged this year, three of them in the past two weeks--and the Esq has two guy friends that proposed to their chicas in the last month. While I'm over the whole WHY NOT US thing, it's a bit... gratuitous... to have that many friends in the same stage of life. Translation: I will never be able to afford that many bridal shower gifts, bachelorette outings, or wedding presents--so they'd better stagger those weddings, preferably in two-year increments. I love a good proposal story, but I really hate weddings.

To my girlfriends getting hitched: I'm not talking about YOUR weddings. Of course not. I'm talking about weddings I've already attended. And to my girlfriends who are already married (who had me at their weddings), I'm not talking about YOUR weddings. Of course not. I'm just talking about ALL WEDDINGS. (I give my two best friends a pass on this for obvious reasons.)

For some reason, December is Proposal Month. The Esq and I were discussing it last night: a Christmas Day proposal, to us, is like the Jumbotron of holiday proposals. And we are not Jumbotron people. We could understand wanting to have family around, plus the holidays are special--why not add another happy event like an engagement?--but personally, I would totally freak out. 1) Nothing overshadows a proposal to an atheist like millions of people celebrating the birth of Christ on the same fucking day. 2) Nothing overshadows the inclusiveness of Christmas like the exclusivity of celebrating one couple's happiness. Christmas isn't Christmas when your family is waiting for you to call everyone, take tons of 'engaged' photos, re-tell the story to the neighbors, etc. 3) We have a lot less to celebrate in a recession; don't double up that cheer on a holiday--spread it around!

I'm not saying Christmas is a bad time for a proposal, only that I know it wouldn't work for me; I know plenty of people who've gotten engaged--and even married!--on Christmas, and they're still happily ensconced in the marriage 'hood. That's really all that matters: staying together and having happy moments. You can't be happy all the time, but I think if you have enough happy moments, they can be strung together to make a happy timeline of events--which eventually becomes your life together, and the lasting memories you've created.

I will say that an actual Jumbotron proposal is retarded *coughcough* certainly a different way to go. The Esq knows this, too; the Jumbotron is a dealbreaker, not like we attend many sporting events. So is the Christmas proposal, as is a public one--although I'm really not that big of a control freak!--we just happened to have this conversation last night. My only real request was this: if you're going to do it, make sure it's a surprise. The proposal stories I've heard from my friends usually start with, "He was acting really weird...", or, "Oh, I totally knew, but didn't let on..." I am rarely surprised by anything, so for once in my life, maybe I will be. Although convincing me that marriage isn't always a hideous trainwreck was probably the most surprising thing of all; the Esq is persuasive.