In case you need a laugh...Tom and I are old friends, both long divorced, who lost touch for a few years. We ran into each other the end of last summer and he asked me if I wanted to have lunchit sounded suspiciously like a date the way he worded it. We went out a few timeslunch, dancing, dinner and talked and talkedthe comfortable conversation you have with an old friend you trust and can be open with. Third date he sets forth a proposition: he tells me the first time he saw me again he was blown away and thought, "I've been praying these last six months for God to send me someone. I think it's Ellie.". He suggested that we continue going out and talking and getting to know each other again with an eye towards marriage, and if it wasn't to be, that was fine. I suppose it would be considered an old fashioned courtship. A month later we both knew it was to be. Eight months later we set a date and reserved a venue. However it later occured to me that he had never proposed. One evening when he said something about our marriage I said to him, "You know, you never asked me to marry you." "Yes, I TOLD you I was going to marry you.". "No, you never ASKED me to marry you," I repeated. "Yes I did. I TOLD you I was going to marry you on our second date". "No Tom, you never ASKED me if I WANTED to marry you.". He looked at me blankly and asked, "Do you want to marry me?". "Yes I want to marry you," I replied. "Good, because I want to marry you too.". And that was the end of the conversation. Oh, and no ring. I really only want a wedding band. I guess that doesn't really match up to the proposals you young girls receive! Oh, and for the record, I am deeply in love with him and can't imagine spending my life with anyone else!