The plan was as sweet as it was simple. I was to surprise Adam when he got home from work with the house decked out in candles, and then get on one knee to propose. But things never go so easily, do they? So, here is the story as it unfolded.

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I woke up in Narromine at sparrow’s fart, and drove to Dubbo for the early flight to Sydney. Upon arrival in Sydney, I hired a little Hyundai Getz and went to Broadway where the rings were to have been ready. Not long after I landed I got a call from the jeweller saying “awww sorry we haven’t got them done yet – should be done in the next day or two” – not the answer I wanted! In no uncertain terms I explained that he had promised them to be ready by Monday, I had flown down especially, and that they would be ready by the afternoon or I would be pulling the job. That got him going, but he could only promise one ring completed by the end of the day. Oh well, that will at least get me over the line.

I did a few errands during the day, did a little christmas shopping, and then picked up Adam’s ring – it was beautiful, exactly how I imagined it would look when I designed it. A titanium and gold band with an larger inset cognac diamond (flush to the ring), flanked by two smaller colourless diamonds and then two smaller diamonds again. It was elegant, yet masculine at the same time. I was quite excited by this point – I had been waiting and waiting for these rings to be done, and now the only thing stopping me was asking the question!

As for how to ask, I had bounced a lot of ideas off a lot of people, however the biggest part was to be the surprise Adam would get when he got home from work. He thought I was going to be in Narromine all week for a gliding competition. So I went to work, and decked the house out in candles, a few rose petals (picked from his own roses, of course!) – and waited for him to come home. Whilst I had considered many plans and ways of popping the question, I settled on something sweet and simple, with the surprise as the biggest element. I would wait for him to walk through the door, see the look on his face, and get down on one knee. However, what happened next turned everything on its head.

Whilst waiting I went outside to say hello to the fur children, and give them some food. At this point I noticed Shelton looking not very well at all – very quiet and not coming when called. I put down some food – he didn’t touch it. Panic! When a labrador turns down food, something is seriously wrong. If I wasn’t worried enough, I knew that as soon as Adam got home, he would panic and fuss over the dog (and quite rightly so!). I didn’t want the Big Proposal to be marred by a sick puppy, so I grumbled and figured that I would have to put off the big question until later. So I still waited for Adam to come home, I still had the house set out for a surprise, but there would be no ring.

He gets home, and must have noticed the flicker from the candles because he stops just short of the door, and suddenly my phone rings, presumably because he thinks someone had broken into the house! I sigh and open the door, which naturally freaked him right out! I say “come inside, it’s just me” and yes, he was surprised to say the least! I think I almost gave him a heart attack. I brought him inside and explained that I had a far nicer night planned, hence the candles, but we had a serious problem and the dog needed our care. So understandably he panicked and all attention was on the dog.

It was at this point that I knew that my plans for the evening had been ruined. However as Adam, Jasper and myself all sat down around a very sick and sorry Shelton, I thought to myself “you know what, there’s never going to be a perfect time. We’ve never done anything “normally” over the years, why should this be any different? I’m here with Adam and the two kids – this is our family – that’s all it has to be“. So I did it, I pulled the box out of my pocket, arranged myself subtlely on one knee, and asked him if he would marry me. The tears welled up, I think the poor boy was having a very emotional evening! He managed to whisper out a “yes” and the deed was done – I put the ring on his finger.

The moment didn’t last forever though – the dog was getting worse and we had to make the decision to take him to the hospital. Thankfully a 24-hour small animal hospital was not too far away so we packed Shelton in the car and got him looked at – they confirmed it was fairly serious and wanted to run a few tests as well as put him on an IV drip and monitor him in the ICU. Whilst comforting Adam in the waiting room I couldn’t help but look at the ring on his finger and think about just how surreal the whole experience was. I had just proposed an hour earlier and here we were in an animal hospital. Typical Adam & Gus! Wouldn’t be right any other way.

After paying a substantial amount of money (in the 4 figures) to the hospital we went home and enjoyed a precious few hours sleep before I got up and left for Narromine, leaving Adam to look after the dog who was reported to be getting slowly better. On landing in Dubbo, I decided the first people I should tell are my family – with mixed success I might add but the ceremony isn’t for a few years so there’s plenty of time to get used to the fact. They weren’t happy when my brother got married, and he’s straight – so I wasn’t surprised with their reaction about my news

I will put up photos of the rings soon – needless to say I haven’t seen much of the boy so far! Stay tuned