How'd we meet? Tinder! That app is good for a thing or two. Our first date was Thai food, cocktails, and a nerdy evening of fun astronomy lectures & trivia. We’ve been inseparable ever since.

Sharron’s Version It was a particularly rough day for me—I’d been at the hospital with my father all night into the early morning, came home for a brief sleep, then got up early to get my first Covid-19 vaccine. When I returned home a few hours later, I immediately took a nap. When I woke up, Michael came into the bedroom with a glass of champagne with raspberries, saying “You’ve had a rough week, you deserve this.” I really appreciated the gesture. He knows that I don’t believe in eating/drinking anything besides water in the bedroom, so this was actually his way of luring me out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. He’d made a lovely charcuterie spread for dinner--some of our favorite fancy cheeses and crackers, fruits, prosciutto, and more champagne. He had a playlist of The Weeknd on the speakers in our home office. After we finished eating, he gave me my belated Valentine’s Day gift—a cocktail recipe book written by the owner of the bar where we went on our first date—The Way Station. Inside, he’d written a lovely note about how one of the best nights of his life was when he met me “947 days ago.” Incredibly sweet. This was a book that he’d gotten me for Valentine’s Day. That I knew for a fact arrived in January. He simply hadn’t gotten around to giving it to me. Until March 12th. He changed the music to an instrumental cover of “Lady in Red” and invited me to dance in our kitchen. While we were dancing, I saw him nervously fiddling with his phone behind my back, and I was confused as to what he was doing--wondering if he was looking for lyrics so he could sing to me, or read a speech. He’d actually changed all the lightbulbs in our home while I was out, he was using an app to change the colors of the lighting, so the room became red. He pulled out the ring box from underneath a kitchen towel on the counter. Asked “Will you marry me?” I immediately started crying and laughing simultaneously. Michael told me I wasn’t allowed to cry without giving him an answer…so I said yes.

Short version: Sharron was having a tough week & had her 1st Covid shot earlier in the day. I woke her up w/a champagne glass with raspberries. I know she doesn’t consume anything in the bedroom, so I knew she’d get up. As we got to the kitchen she was welcomed by charcuterie & candles. We had a very nice dinner. I put on a bluesy, acoustic instrumental of ‘Lady in Red’. As we started to dance I changed the lights in the kitchen into full on red. At the end of the dance I pulled out ‘the box’, opened it, asked if she wanted to marry me. LONG version: We’d talked about engagement & rings for a while. I wanted to buy her a ring of ‘my choosing’ but took her wishes into consideration. The ring I found was quickly made & shipped to a friend. Ms. Paul is super savvy in what comes & goes into our home--I didn’t want a package to raise any suspicion. I finally had the ring—and a 7 day return policy if she didn’t feel it was right for her. It took 2 days to figure out when/where/how to propose. The week had been tough on Sharron on many fronts. On Friday she was heading out to get her 1st Covid shot & I thought I had time to prep, especially when she said she bumped into a friend. I started installing the Phillips Hue light bulbs--my plan was to have the kitchen fully immersed in red while “Lady in Red” played at the crucial moment. She suddenly came home while I was fumbling with the office lights. I got so nervous I don’t remember what I said I was doing. She went to the bedroom to nap & noted the lamps had been fiddled with & it was dark in there. To which I said “you’re supposed to sleep in here”. As she napped I thought it would be easy to get some cheese, cold cuts & crackers. Oh no. Went to 4 local stores, then panicked as she called me to ask if I wanted to pick up fast food for dinner. I got in such a panic mode that I just said ‘uh huh’, ‘whatever you want’ and ‘ok’. To my luck Sharron managed to talk herself out of that idea based upon my half-wit responses & go back to sleep. Now panicked, I went home with what I’d gathered--prepackaged cheese rolled w/prosciutto, and less fancy formaggio. I felt taunted by fate as there was new store a block away that had a small but good selection of dessert cheeses, that they apparently thought was not needed anymore by the time I did! Came home, immediately made a beautiful spread w/what I found--I had bubbly wine & raspberries, hoping they would cover for the lack of food. I needed a ‘front’ of why I did this, so I pulled out the Valentine gift I just hadn’t gotten around to give her yet wrote in it. Including the count of days since we first met, next to her plate. I then hid the ring box under a kitchen towel on the counter. Hearing her wake up, I sprang into action, got her a glass of champagne w/berries in it. Taking no prisoners, I charged in & put it in her hand and walked out to the kitchen quickly knowing she had to follow as she refuses to consume food in the bedroom. She was surprised by the spread & book. We had a great meal together. She truly needed to be pampered as the week had been rough on her. Once we finished eating, I changed the music to Lady in Red, inviting her to dance in the kitchen. I fumbled with my phone as I tried to not make her notice I was struggling with the app to change the lights. I succeeded, but she noted I was messing with the phone. However the song, and the red light bathing us, Sharron was lost in the moment. The song comes to an end, I try to smoothly grab the ring box under the towel without her noticing. I think I succeeded in that. At this point I’m so nervous. I hold up the box & try to open it, and fumbled to the point of where the box flies across the room, but I managed to get the ring out of it. I hold it in front of her and asked ‘Will you marry me?’. She started to laugh & cry at the same time in joy. As the Swede I am I have to hold her to protocol--“You need to answer the question.” …and the answer you all know