It was 16 years ago that I received very special fortune cookie. In fact, this cookie changed my life…forever.
I apologize to those who’ve heard this story before. But it is such a great story that it bears repeating.
The year was 1993, and Matt and I had been dating on and off for about 4 years. We had reached the point in our relationship that we knew it was either marriage or bust. I didn’t want a long engagement, and we wanted to be married during a school break, so our time was running out to get things in place. We had already reserved the church…and now all that remained was to make it official so we could start telling people the happy news.
In order for us to be married at the church, we had to meet with one of the pastors. We had scheduled that meeting for 6:00 so I would have time to take my reading-incentive award winners to Braum’s for an ice cream celebration. We had our meeting and then decided to head out to dinner. Matt had already planted the idea of Chinese food the night before, so we drove to Richardson to a quiet, out-of-the-way place.
We arrived at the restaurant, and I quickly headed to the restroom (like most teachers, I hadn’t had time to do that since about 6 A.M.) which gave Matt time to put his plan into action. Hurriedly, he gave our server a fortune cookie with the instructions, “There’s an engagement ring inside this cookie. Bring it out after the meal!” The server whisked the cookie away to the kitchen where it awaited the moment of truth.
I returned to the table none the wiser and we enjoyed a wonderful meal. The food was good, we had great conversation, even the music was fun. And then it was time. Our server brought out two fortune cookies, both unwrapped, each one on its own little tray. I thought that was odd, but figured it was just a little special touch. I picked mine up and innocently quipped, “So, how’s the ring going to fall out of THIS?!” Matt managed to cover by squeaking out “What ring?” while inside he was horrified, wondering How in the WORLD did she figure this out??
I opened my cookie and as I pulled out the fortune I realized it was handwritten…in red pen…on blue paper. How sweet, I thought, they make their own cookies and write the fortunes by hand! But that thought soon changed when I read what it said, in handwriting that was all-too-familiar:
WILL YOU MARRY ME?
My eyes filled with tears as I realized this was the moment I had been waiting so long for. My heart was pounding and my hands were shaking as Matt got out of his seat, got down on one knee, and took my hand in his. “Yes, Yes, YES!” was all I could say. And then shortly thereafter, “Where’s the ring?”
“Inside the cookie. You’re going to have to get it out!” came the smug reply.
Sure. Right. My hands were shaking so fast and so hard that I couldn’t pick up the cookie let alone pull a ring out of it. So Matt did the honors and as he placed it on my finger we looked around the restaurant and began to laugh. Every single employee, from the hostess to the busboys, were lined up around the back wall watching us. As soon as the ring was on my finger, they began bowing profusely, hands clasped together, saying “Congraturations! Congraturations! Oh, so happee! Oh, how happee!”
It’s been 16 years and I still get butterflies thinking about it. And despite all the hard times, the difficulties and uncertainties, the joys and the struggles, the victories and losses…I have to say, I’d say “Yes” all over again.
Happy engagement anniversary, Matt! I am “oh, so happee” to be married to you!