In the not-to-distant future, my lovely fiancee and I will be getting married (see later posts for details, or email me directly). It has been a long time in coming, and planning long before this, but we had held off on a formal announcement for reasons I will elaborate on in this post. We will also have a wedding state-side, TBA, for those family and friends who cannot make it to the center of Europe for our first one. Anyway, here's how it happened.
It has always been my intention to ask her father's blessing before formally proceeding with an official engagement, and this is not a question one asks over the internet or telephone. So seeing how this is the first chance I have had to meet her family, everything was waiting for the first domino to fall. Speaking of falling, I decided to ask him over a chess game, and just before we played, I went to get a glass of water from the kitchen. Unfortunately, this action disturbed a precariously perched brandy glass on the top rack of the dish dryer, and it succumbed to the pull of gravity. Smashing onto the counter below, I couldn't help but think of the Jewish tradition of breaking a glass at a wedding. However, you are typically supposed to do that after the wedding, not before.
Nonetheless, over a very long and intense chess match, I asked her father for his blessing on our marriage. Between what English he knows, and Vaida serving as translator for one bit of it, he told us with a smile, "Is no problem, your life, your love." He eventually went on to beat me at the chess game, but not until after a very long drawn out match. This much out of the way, it was on to find the right place to officially ask her.
Padlocks of all shapes, sizes, and ages, from generations of lovers before us on the Užupio St. Bridge. |
However, I still hadn't found the place to officially ask her, having going through many different variations on how to "pop the question." The most recent idea had included a hot air balloon, but despite their popularity in Lithuania, they are an extravagant luxury best left to a more financially secure time of our life. I had settled on using locking the padlock to the bridge as the official engagement, but the engraver's shop was inexplicably closed, forcing me to find a different plan. But it seems God had an even better place in mind.
The 15th Century Belfry of St. John's Church and the old Refectory. |
You have to squeeze up a small set of stairs at the foundation to get to the lift to the top, or you can take the stairs. As much as I would like to trust engineers, its a little nerve-wracking to trust your life to creaking wooden timbers, no matter how big they are. At least the lift had a reassuringly self supporting steel framework almost all the way to the top. However, to actually get on the very top, you again have to squeeze through twisting wooden stairs and an opening through in the ancient brick floor of the very top. But the view is worth it, and was clearly the moment to make everything official.
Actual rings are still in the process of being worked out, so this will suffice for now. Aš tavė myliu mano Dark Lady! |
I hope you haven't minded wading through my romanic musings, we will return to your normally scheduled programming next week with news of our weekend trip to the Baltic Sea with her family.
Us again, atop St. John's Church Belfry, Vilnius, Lithuania |
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