There was a cute story in the NY Times today which told 10 Love-Themed Stories to celebrate the holiday, one of which I thought was exceptionally sweet and decided to share here:
Knees Make Contact with a Stone Floor
Where is a guy to pop the question these days? A restaurant might open and close before the knee is off the ground. You don’t want to say someday, “That’s where Dad popped the question,” and be standing in front of a Duane Reade.
The Temple of Dendur — now, there’s another story.
Pros: unlikely to close in our lifetimes; beautiful; meditative; as permanent as love itself. We’d been there before; it was a happy place. Nubian.
Con: tourists. A friend of mine proposed on the Brooklyn Bridge and his girlfriend shrieked with joy and some tourist geek approached, thinking she was being mugged. This I did not need.
Turns out I could not afford to rent out the Temple of Dendur. So I called the Metropolitan Museum of Art and grilled the clerk: When is the temple emptiest? (Right before it closes.) What time do you close Friday? (9 p.m.) What time do you start bugging people to leave, over the loudspeakers? (8:45) I shared my plan, and he liked it so much he left two passes at the front desk. Then I reserved a limo to be waiting out front afterward. I told the driver, “I think she’ll say yes, but either way, have the booze ready.”
We got there early and had a drink on the second floor, one of us cheerful and oblivious, the other sitting funny to hide the small box in his pocket. At about 8:24 p.m., the latter suggested a visit to the temple. “I bet it’s empty,” I said, a prayer.
There were two people there, and a guard, and then the two people left. I slipped over and asked the guard, “Exactly what time are you going to kick us out?” I think she sensed something was up and sauntered off. It was so huge and quiet in there.
8:40-ish: right knee and stone floor make contact. She wondered what was going on — had I lost something? — and knelt down, too. Then she understood.
We spilled out onto Fifth Avenue and the limo was there. I made eye contact with the driver and he raised his brows. I gave him a thumbs up.
That was five years ago. Our baby boy is too young for us to show him the spot, but what’s the rush? It’ll be there.
- Michael Wilson
(story from NY Times.com)
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment