Magical Moment 259, "Proposals, Secrets, and Men's Bathrooms"

I’ve written about Eddie quite a bit – how we met, fell in love, and got married against military regulation. But I’ve never told the story of how he proposed.

We only dated for 2 months, but I knew the day was a comin’ and just wondered how and when he would ask. I was his supervisor in the Army and we were keeping our relationship a secret due to the Officer/Enlisted fraternization policy in the Army, forbidding anything but professional relationships between the two grades. Eddie recently got a traffic citation for speeding and talking on his cell phone, and as a result, had to attend a sort of military-stop-class for the next four Saturdays. As his supervisor, and his girlfriend, I knew all about this.

However, my Platoon Sergeant who also was one of Eddie’s supervisors, approached me with the sincere desire to help out one of his troops, Eddie (or Sergeant Grimes as we’ll call him in this story).

“Ma’am,” my Platoon Sergeant said, “We have a real problem with Sergeant Grimes. He has traffic class all day Saturday but he’s already made expensive and extravagant plans to propose to his girlfriend this weekend.”

“Oh really?!” I said, desperately trying not to give myself away. I think I did a pretty good acting job and explained that ultimately it would be up to his First Sergeant to get him out of the class.

I spent the day trying to decide whether or not I should tell Eddie that his surprise was ruined. Being proposed to is a once in a lifetime thing, and I ultimately knew that Eddie would be disappointed if he found out later that I only acted surprised. So I told him. Of course he was bummed that his secret was spoiled, but I look back now and see that it was for the best.

A few weeks later, we planned to meet my parents and little sister in Nashville for a few days. This would only be their second time meeting Eddie and I suspected that he wanted to talk to my dad before giving the proposal a second try, which he did in a not so discreet fashion at the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum. In the meantime, I discovered the ring in a not so brilliant hiding spot. By now maybe you’ve guessed that we’re not great secret keepers.

So there we were, in Nashville, he had spoken to my dad, and the ring was burning a hole in his pocket. And knowing all this was burning a hole in my head! We all went to a small Mexican Restaurant for lunch and I excused myself to use the restroom, only to discover that the ladies room was out of order. I went back and asked Eddie to guard the men’s room door for me. That’s when I took action.

“Would you just propose already? I want to wear my ring!” I practically begged.

“I want you to wear it too.” He said in agreement.

He knelt down on the floor of the very questionable men’s bathroom floor, and proposed. I got to wear my ring and the only secrets left were the ones we had to keep from the Army.

And that’s how it happened. Months later, after our romance was made public, my old Platoon Sergeant found me and profusely apologized when he realized he had ruined the surprise that day. I tried to reassure him that it absolutely didn’t bother me one bit. Everything turned out just as it should.

A year later, back at the restaurant

Fiesta Mexicana in Nashville, TN

The men's room

Magical Moment 625, "Thailand - the Elephants"

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Magical Moment 620, "Lilac Garden"

Eddie and I visited the Lilac Gardens at Ringwood Manor in New Jersey, a pristine and beautiful state park with 8 species of lilacs and several varieties within. We went on a rainy afternoon, which turned out perfect because the rain stopped for us when we got there, and began again as soon as we left. It also decorated the plants with gorgeous rain drops, adding to their beauty. And now for a quick game of "Where's Elizabeth?" And "Where's Eddie?" ~~Have a great weekend! ~~

Magical Moment 280, "The Eleventh Hour"

The Veterans Day Parade, NYC On July 29, 2001 , five exceptional men were honored by the President of the United States for their remarkable military service. They were involved in a top secret mission that required unfathomable intelligence and as a result, literally won a battle which was instrumental in winning the war. Not the war that was happening in 2001, not even the Gulf War. It was World War II, and they were the Navajo Code Talkers who were largely responsible for winning the bloody battle of Okinawa. The only problem with the ceremony was that just 5 remained of the original 29. Our country was too late in thanking the other 24, and nearly too late in thanking those 5 men. On March 10, 2010, three hundred women won the Congressional Gold medal for their outstanding war service. Unfortunately, 800 received the award posthumously. These were the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) of World War II, who devoted themselves to flying military aircraft like the B-26 and B-

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