Our Proposal Story

So I never did get around to telling you all my proposal story now did I?

I suppose, to properly begin, I would have to start at the early months of Mishka and my relationship.

So, approximately two months in (he says more, so I guess it's a rough estimate), Mishka and I are walking together to my dorm. I have always loved that Mishka is trilingual and would sporadically ask him to say something in Russian or Ukrainian just for the thrill of hearing it (yes, it's a thrill :-P). On said walk, I asked him to say something in Russian, he did. I, knowing nothing of Russian at this point, asked for a translation. But instead Mishka just said "I'll tell you later." I was obviously suspicious and confused and so for months/years I pestered him to tell me, but he never relented.

Fast-forward to November 22nd,1 o'clock in the morning. Mishka was teaching me Russian from a Russian course book he had bought from Barnes & Noble. He had also bought a Russian to English dictionary to aid in my studies. We were finishing up the lesson, and I was ready to pass out from exhaustion when Mishka said something very strange:

Mishka: Hey, do you remember that Russian saying you were always asking about?

Ang: Yes.

Mishka: Well if you want to know what it is, now that you have a Russian dictionary you can look it up for yourself. [hands me the dictionary]

Ang: But I don't remember what you said.

Mishka: [says something in Ukrainian]

And then, I opened the book.

But, rather than seeing the customary list of English words and how to translate them into Russian, I found that the book had been hollowed out. And inside the hollow dictionary shell...was a ring box.

I looked up and Mishka was on one knee in front of me. I was almost confused, I couldn't believe it was really happening. And at 1 o'clock in the morning! I was speechless so Mishka took the cue and said what is one of my favorite sentences he has ever uttered.

Mishka: Ang, it means, will you be my wife?

I found my voice then and of course said YES!

I opened the ring box to see the gorgeous and sentimental ring that Mishka had picked out for me, the ring which graces my finger now. I love it, and I love his proposal too. You see, Mishka was serious about marrying me, almost from the first moment he fell in love with me (which was before we were dating). Serious commitment was always part of our relationship, even from the very beginning, and so the fact that his proposal is tied to the earliest months of our time together, made the way he did it very particular to us.

I should probably break to tell you that I had always suspected the mysterious Russian saying was a proposal. However, when he broached the question of me looking the phrase up for myself, he totally threw me off guard. I had no idea! In fact, I was a little annoyed. I thought to myself "oh, here I thought that Russian phrase was going to be a proposal and now it turns out it's just a homework assignment!"

Oh, how wrong a girl can be ;).