The Proposal - [The Courtship Series #8]

Transcript

You want me to carry that for you? All right, well the offer's on the table, okay? That's what I'm for, isn't it? Carry your bag, carry your coat, pull your chair out, open your door, all that.

Well it's good to know you have a use for me. I know that's not what you were saying. Well even if I can't carry your bag, can I at least hold your hand? Nothing.

Nothing. Seriously, don't, don't, don't worry about it. No, nothing is wrong, I promise.

I just feel a little bit, I don't know, I've had a lot going on at work, had a lot of things to think about, you know. Exactly. It's nothing to do with you.

It's nothing to do with us. There's nothing wrong, it's just, you know, it's just, sometimes things stress me out and I just gotta work through it, I gotta deal with it, okay? Well what you can do is just keep being my sweet, adorable lover.

That's all I need. I'll tell you what, later tonight, we go to mine, we pop in a movie, and you can just lean back against the couch and I will lean back against you, and you can put your arms around me, just hold me close, you up for that? Honestly, it's all I need, I promise.

It's okay, it's gonna blow over. Look, check this out. You notice where we are? Yes, I'm trying to distract you.

Because! Let yourself be distracted. Be gone, I distract thee.

Actually, actually, don't be gone. Be right here with me. Yes, but you knew I was a dork when you started going out with me.

You bring out the dork in me, baby. It's only for you. And I love you too.

So, did you notice where I brought you? Yeah, exactly. This is where we had our first date.

If you recall, we met right over there, and, um, well, it was just a little bit loud for me that evening, you know? I had met this beautiful woman that I wanted to get to know better, and a crowded college bar just didn't really seem like the right place to do that. So, the boardwalk, right? Worked out for us.

Well, it was our first date, but not our last one, right? I'd say that's working out for us. The funnel cake guy there, and, um, the arcade.

It's like I said on that first date, it's crazy how much this has changed since I was a kid, and yet how much of it's still the same. And I wasn't trying to get all profound there. That really was just a commentary on the boardwalk, but it's just nice to be here.

To be here with you. I've got a lot of happy memories that started right here on this boardwalk. Okay.

You know me a little bit too well at this point, because I can't hide the fact that there is something on my mind. And I, well, I just want to start by reassuring you it's not bad, okay? It's not at all.

I think it's rather good. It still makes me nervous, and that's okay. Instead of helping me fix it, why don't you just listen to what it is, and then you can tell me what you think needs to be done about it, okay?

Well, you know that I get nostalgic and reflective, and I've just been thinking about our relationship a lot lately. Well, there's all sorts of things, right? We've been together quite some time now.

As I said, you know me in some ways I think better than I know myself, and vice versa. Well, you remember when I called you out the other day, right? Maybe you hadn't admitted it to yourself yet, but I knew.

And you've done the same for me. Like I said, a lot of really good memories started with that first date on this boardwalk. We've come a long way, haven't we? We're very different.

We see the world through very different eyes, and it's not just the standard male-female difference that's such a cliché in relationship talk. I mean, those are there, of course, but then there's just many things that we, you know, we reach the same conclusions a lot of the time, but frequently get there by very different means. And I'll admit to you right now, there are many times that you're explaining your thoughts to me, and I don't know what the hell you're talking about.

Even if I can't understand it, it's still important to me. And I'll try to wrap my mind around it, you know that. And eventually I'll get there.

It's because I don't give up. It's because what you say does matter to me. It always matters to me.

And I don't give up until I figure it out. I love you. You know you're the most important person in the world to me.

You're my favorite person. I know I am, baby. I know I am.

Anyway, what I was saying. You challenge me in ways that. ..

You know you're a pain in my ass. I know I am. It's a favor that we keep returning to each other.

I love you. I absolutely adore you. A pain in my ass or not.

And I know that I am a pain in yours. That's part of how we challenge each other. Because I know that even when you're causing me some consternation.

Even when I'm confused by what you're saying or thinking. I know that you love me and you care about us. I know that there are reasons behind the things that you're saying or doing.

And it's on me to look for them and understand them. And sometimes, as you know, I'll call you out and say, I don't think that's the best thing to do or the best way to do it. And you do the same for me.

And I think that's part of why we're so good as a couple. Because it's not an echo chamber in this relationship. We stretch each other.

We make each other think in ways that we've never had to think before. You know, in my case, you make me think outside the box a lot. And in your case, I make you think inside it for the first time.

And that's part of why we're so good. Because we have complementary ways of thinking about things, seeing things, and approaching things. You've made me want to pull my hair out in frustration.

And you've also made me the happiest I've ever been in my life. And despite the things that we've had to learn, the ways we've had to adapt to one another, we've built on our love. We've built on our commonalities and our care for each other to become better versions of ourselves to become a better version of us as a couple.

Okay, fine, yes, I lied to you when I said that what I was thinking about was not about you. It didn't have anything to do with you. Okay, that was a fib.

But I didn't want you to get worried thinking it was bad. Okay? Have I said anything bad? You're the best thing that's ever happened to me.

And I want you to keep happening to me for a very long time. And that's really what I have been thinking about and why I seem a little bit jittery. No, it's worse than ever right now because of what I'm about to do.

You're the light of my life.