Marriage proposal all about substance, not so much style

The Betterhalf and I were watching a national TV newscast about a husband who felt his marriage proposal didn’t pack the impact that it should have. The husband, 25 married years and four kids later, presented her with a new proposal.
She had gone to New York City on a trip and un-be-known to her he had followed her. There, in Central Park, he surprised her by again re-proposing to her. Of course his romantic action really impressed her.
The Betterhalf watched this TV presentation and thought it was impressive. I, on the other hand, felt a little uneasy because my proposal 62 years earlier was let’s say, “below normal standards.”  It lacked a lot of the romantic standards and I believe she would have liked one of those romantic movie settings with the guy dressed in a tux and on his knee. About the only traditional formality to our engagement was that I previously asked her father for his daughter’s hand. From that point on, tradition disappeared.
Short on cash, the engagement ring was a pretty big dollar investment for a man going to college. A fancy setting at a swank eating place was out of the question. So I settled on making the engagement presentation at a school-sponsored hayrack ride with visions of a moonlight presentation among some of her friends.
 That plan all got changed when I thought there could be a possibility that I would drop the ring into the pile of hay or even worse, the ring would fall from the wagon and be lost on a dark country lane. I decided to wait until we got back to the farm and I would make the grand presentation. Again, a change in plans.
To find a quiet setting away from all the hayrack participators crowding into the house was impossible. The chance came when my future bride’s mother asked the Betterhalf  if she could go to the basement to get the ice cream from the freezer. I offered to help. With the diamond ring in my pocket, I sprang into action. 
 In that old brick-walled basement lighted by a couple 75-watt lightbulbs and a wringer washer about five- foot away, I gallantly made my proposal. It was accepted and later announced to the hayrack riders. 
No rockets were fired off. Few congratulations were aired and a marriage that has lasted 62 years is solid which means, “it doesn’t matter about the setting, but the commitment.”
About the only fear I now have is she may still ask for a bigger diamond ring.

RL Furse  is publisher emeritus of the News-Register