THE PROPOSAL
by Brenda Burns Kellow, 2009
Tracing Our Roots http://starlocalmedia.com/opinion/blogs/blog_7/
Airplanes and radios—amateur radios—was always foremost on his mind. So it only is logical that the proposal be made at a historical place.
It was a cold, windy night when he picked me up for our dinner date. I remember it clearly as though it was yesterday. I was wearing my new bright yellow mohair sweater under my new cashmere black coat. The little sweater hairs smothered my coat turning it yellow! It was embarrassing to enter the restaurant like that, so we checked my coat at the door, even though I knew the cold dampness would somehow find its way from the dark, noisy outdoors to chill me as we ate by one of the Flight Deck Restaurant's largest windows overlooking the runway at Love Field.
He was wearing a trim charcoal suit, white long sleeved shirt under a sweater the color of his blue eyes.
Dinner was tasty. My steak only slightly less done than his. We ate Italian dressing on our salads and enjoyed a loaded baked potato. We still enjoy dining out, although the Flight Deck Restaurant at Love Field is gone.
It was a lovely dining experience. Only later after desert of baked Alaska would I realize how memorable this dinner date would become for both of us.
With our tummies full, we settled back to watch the private and corporate planes take off and land. This was an activity we often enjoyed while sitting in his TR-3 convertible listening to the chatter of the pilots over his radio as we sat on the runway at Love Field-you could do that then. Actually, watching airplanes and listening to the pilots was his activity. I was only there because it gave me an opportunity to be near the man with whom I had fallen in love. Love was the motivating factor of that evening’s meal at “The Flight Deck.”
Suddenly, he nervously took my hand and popped the question! “Will you marry me?” The question was a surprise, but not unexpected. After all, we had dated off and on for a year and a half.
I’ll bet you think I said yes right away? No, I wanted some issues resolved first. Six weeks passed as we worked out the details in our marriage contract—now probably called a pre-nuptial agreement. With all the possible problems addressed and resolved, we set the date for March 3rd, the following spring.
You see, the proposal was not unexpected because two years before I had entered the cafeteria of Collin Radio where I worked as the librarian and saw him sitting across the room with other engineers I recognized. I had never seen him before. I asked my friend, Faye Smith Battle if she knew him and she didn't. I said to her, "I'm going to marry him." Faye replied that my remark was the stupidest thing I had ever said. Nevertheless, we did marry less than two years later.
Forty-nine years later with the contract years out of date, the commitment we made to each other is still strong and the marriage sound. And amateur radios and airplanes are still a part of it, including the private plane he owned and piloted until after the birth of our children.
I brought in to the marriage, art, art museums, gardening, family history and writing. He brought science, amateur radio, computers, electronics and a knack for fixing or building just about anything.
Our children are now grown but we enjoy our wonderful grandchildren. They come to Texas each year and spend six-weeks with us during the summers. They love the farm, the animals, the large flat land, the pasture, the lake and watching the boats as they ride in circles around the lake. Most of all I think they enjoy hand feeding the range cubes to the cows. They jump and scream and giggle when those rough, slobbery tongues scrape across their tender little hands, and then they do it again.
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