Twist Tie Proposal

My husband proposed with a twist tie ring from the cutlery drawer in his parents' kitchen. It was rather uncomfortable.

I wore it proudly for a week.

When I pulled it out of my sock drawer recently, I recounted our engagement story to my daughters and was reminded of something that has carried us through the 13 years that have passed since that wiry ring first graced my finger: if you wait for perfect conditions, you’ll never get anything done.* 

It carried us when, newly married, we covered rent and my tuition with savings until my husband found a job. It carried us when we added a mortgage and a baby to our family when I was our only income and it was my husband’s turn to pay tuition. I felt it when we started homeschooling and, more recently, when we adjusted our home and our lives to accommodate a pandemic.

I credit it with (mostly) weather proofing us against the stress and frustration of the last decade’s storms.

With all this practice, my ability to recognize the futility of waiting for perfect conditions has improved.

(I am also acquainted with the foolishness of plunging ahead with great confidence** but that’s a story for another day.)

The perfect time—for a marriage, a move, a job change, a leap of faith, a fight, a baby—will never come. The ducks are more likely to run wild than they are to dutifully form a line.

But while this engagement story began with a less than perfect, ducks running wild twist tie, it ended with a beautiful, custom-designed, sapphire ring that just wasn’t ready quite on time for the planned proposal. I’m glad it didn’t stop us that February evening.

*Ecclesiastes 11:4

**Proverbs 14:16

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This post is part of a blog hop with Exhale—an online community of women pursuing creativity alongside motherhood, led by the writing team behind Coffee + Crumbs. Click here to view the next post in the series "280 Words."