Ducky's engagement story

On March 3, I met a man named Jim DeLaHunt. A mutual friend, Lennart, insisted that I meet him: "I'm sure you'd like each other - you both like opera". I thought surely Lennart was taking pity on some loser friend, and I only agreed to meet Jim because I needed a ride. Lennart (and Jim) were singing in a show I wanted to see, but at the time, my repetitive strain injury wouldn't let me drive that far comfortably. I arrived at Jim's, knocked on the door, and this 6', red-haired guy answered the door "Hey!", said I. "He's kind of cute! Oh, he must be the housemate - I couldn't be so lucky." But no, I was in fact so lucky. I've been lucky practically ever since!

On December 10th, Jim and I went to a San Jose Lasers (pro women's basketball) game.  Right after the third period, the announcer called attention to the Santa who was working the crowd, and made a plug for Toys for Tots. "And now Santa has a very special delivery to make", the announcer said. Santa hobbled up our aisle to our row. He got Jim, who was sitting on the aisle, to stand up.


The announcer then said, "Jim DeLaHunt, your girlfriend wants to know if you will marry her!" The scoreboard flashed "Jim Delahunt [sic] Will You Marry Me?" The crowd went wild. Santa tried to hand Jim a jewelry case. Jim's jaw dropped as he turned to me (dutifully on my knees). My housemate took pictures.

After some hugging and kissing and so on, Jim finally remembered that he ought to give a verbal response. (He said "YES!".)

If you are wondering why I asked him, it is because I was the one with the cold feet. Jim has been ready to be married for about five years, while it is still something of a novel concept for me. I am the one who had been skittish about even discussing committment; Jim is the one who said to my cousin, "Good to meet you, Mike. I guess I'll be seeing you at the wedding." I wanted to propose to him very publicly so that there would be no question that I had come around.

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