[For the short version, skip down to the section labeled ‘The Proposal’…that’s where all of the ring action is.]
The Preamble
It was a dark and stormy Sunday afternoon. Well, to be fair, it wasn’t dark and stormy when Justin and Natalie set off on their bikes, but a summer rain was in the forecast.
Justin had mentioned to Natalie that, largely due to her schedule, they hadn’t gone on one a long bike ride all summer. It was the beginning of August and usually by this time they would have done a few 15-30 mile rides on Chicago’s lake shore and river paths. Natalie agreed that this was both true and should be remedied in the coming weekend, when she finally had a free afternoon. In retrospect, this is probably the only activity/outing Justin could have strongly suggested without Natalie growing suspicious. He likely knew this.
And so, the day came, and they suited up, pumped their tires and headed towards the lake. In addition to the necessities: spare tubes, multi tool, water; they stopped at Potbelly to pick up some lunch, planning to eat it once they were south of the city. It rained on them for a bit on the way to the path, the big, summer raindrops that seem to fall yards apart, scarcely wetting you. Then it was clear skies.
If you’ve never ridden south on the lakeshore path, you should. It’s mostly enjoyable, briefly hell as you navigate the dreaded Navy Pier zone, and then lovely again. South of the pier is a magical place where tourists dare not pedal their blasphemous quadrabikes and where even segway tours can be easily avoided. Further south, past the museum campus, is an absolute dream. You should go this way or out onto Northerly Island.
In this particular instance, our lovebirds were continuing south. Twas here that they disembarked their steel steeds, somewhere between 32nd or 35th (past McCormick, but before the first real south side beach), and walked to the shoreline to enjoy their long forgotten (not at all, Natalie was starving) Potbelly subs. And after they finished their subs, Justin would propose, with their favorite view of the city as a backdrop.
The Delay
That’s when he would have proposed. However, those pesky rain clouds returned and this time were not so fleeting. There was no immediate shelter and Justin and Natalie didn’t mind a little rain on their sandwiches, so they kept their place and kept eating. But it just kept raining. Big drops again, but this time harder, and closer together, and sideways. Natalie and Justin kept thinking it was about to blow over, but apparently it wasn’t. Soon they were soaked, their sandwiches were soaked, everything around them was soaked, and while escaping the rain was pointless, escaping the wind would have been nice.
The ring waiting in Justin’s backpack would have to keep waiting, they got back on their bikes and headed north.
And then there was lightening.
That was a good cue to find cover. Riding in the rain was fine, but no one was up for getting flash fried to their bikes that afternoon. They hopped off their bikes and under an awning on the north side of McCormick place to wait out the bad stuff.
The Proposal (For real this time)
The rain subsided (more or less) and the lightening had ceased and Natalie was ready to finish the trek home, but NAY! There were jewels to be had!
Justin lured her back to the side of the lake to “enjoy it a little” but mostly to finish eating lunch–they still had chips! Natalie obliged, slightly confused, but won over by chips.
He handed her the bag of Vitners and told her to open them, as she started to he pulled them from her hands, replaced them with a little black box and said, “But first, open this.”
She was thrown; opened the ring box upside down and was even more thrown; flipped it right side up and was even MORE thrown. She mostly made guttural noises and shouted “Boo!?” until Justin took her hand and helped her off of the ledge she was sitting on.”Hang on, I have to do this right,” he said, and proceeded to get down on one knee…at which point he kneeled on a small rock and had to adjust his weight so as not to be stabbed.
Natalie, however, knew nothing of the small rock and just thought Justin was being a goon, kneeling down, ring box in hand, looking up at her and smiling for an unnecessarily long time, so she prompted him with his line (or, in his words, she yelled at him) and said, “You still have to ask the question!”
He asked, she said yes, and continued to mostly make guttural sounds until eventually giving him the ring back so it didn’t slide off her finger on the remaining ride home.
So there you have it, soggy and sweet.