The Beginning of "Forever". (Series part V)

Please click the links to "A Love Series" on the sidebar to see the previous stories in the series.

The next few months were pretty uneventful, except for my change in employment. I had a fight with my boss at the Asian restaurant, and that, combined with a stark lack of hours, I decided to find myself a different job. (Jeez, two fights with bosses, two jobs in a row! I must be hard to work with!)

So, I wound up working full time at the hardware store, and at some point, I dropped out of school. I can't honestly remember when I dropped out, but it was after I had done two and a half years. I just didn't have the motivation to stick with it, and I had never really had a goal to begin with, so I couldn't justify going into even MORE debt. Armondo agreed with me, and we made plans to eventually open a restaurant together.

During all this time, we discussed the probability of an upcoming engagement, and I made it very clear that I wanted my promise ring to become my engagement ring, and that I would MUCH prefer a down payment on a house to an expensive ring. Armondo seemed to agree and was glad that I was so "sensible". And then the waiting game began. I knew that I wanted to be with this man forever, I just didn't want to wait forever for him to ASK me to be with him forever!

Armondo and I were pretty avid concert goers. We still go to the odd concert and bar show, but of course, since we've had Cherry, we haven't been able to go as often as we would like. In the summer of 2003 though, we went to several, including Warped Tour. Warped Tour is an outdoor show that happens every summer and features several punk, ska/punk, and pop/punk bands on several different stages. It's an all day event, and also features skateboarding and bmx demos and each band has a tent set up to sell their merch and such. Armondo and I had both gone to several Warped Tours over the years, but this was the first one we went to together. For some reason, I always overheat at these shows, and always get lethargic and sometimes sickly, so I usually spend half the day just lounging, and/or sleeping in the middle of a three thousand plus sized crowd.

At this particular show, while I was sleeping on the lawn at Thunderbird Stadium, Armondo took the opportunity to take off and head into the massive mosh pit to get some circle pit action.

After a couple of hours, we met back up and spent some time sitting together in the bleachers to enjoy the music, but also get away from the crowds. At some point, I started talking marriage with Armondo. He told me he wasn't really ready and it just didn't seem like the "right time". To that, I replied, "Well, do you want to be with me for the rest of your life?" To which he responded "Yes."

"So, if you want to be with me, and you don't have to buy me a ring, then, what are you waiting for?"

"You're right." He said. "There's no reason to wait."

"So, when are you going to ask me to marry you?"

"Hmm.. When Pennywise is playing."

"Whatever!"


And he did.


Pennywise was the last band to play that day, and during their set, he leaned over my shoulder from the bleacher step above me and asked me the question:




"So, uh, do you wanna marry me? Sometime?"





Yeah, that's how he asked me. No bending on one knee. No staring into my eyes. He was on the bleacher step BEHIND me and he leaned over to ask me.

Stupid shmuck that I am, I said "Yes, I want to marry you!" and turned around for a kiss.

Soon after though, I started to rib him for his lame proposal. On the way to the car, I kept asking him "Did you REALLY just ask me to marry you?!?"

And when I asked him why it was such a lame proposal, when he's a romantic person most of the time, his answer was:

"I hurt my knee in the mosh pit."