Life Story Scene: The Proposal 11/21/2007

An elegant harbor cruise with a candlelit dinner for two would be an ideal romantic situation.  However, she would know it was coming in an instant and I needed to utilize the element of surprise.  And then I figured that I could double up my surprises because I was surprising my family in Chicago for Thanksgiving and they had no idea that I was coming.  The perfect plan, or so I thought.

            A few days before our trip out there Cailey and I were walking around the North Shore Mall and she was telling me about her day at work.  She was joking about how all of her friends at work were saying that they thought I would propose in Chicago.  Upon hearing that I was able to produce my most fake laugh ever and kind of shrug off the whole idea.  She responded to them with, “I know PJ and he wouldn’t do it then, he can’t even afford a ring yet.”  That made me feel a little safer because I don’t think her radar would be completely on. 

            This brings us to November 21^st .  Because of work conflicts Cailey actually flew to Chicago on an earlier flight than me, and she met up with my Aunt Peggy, who was the only person who knew we were coming in, and spent the day with her and my cousins.  I was coming in at about 7:00 that evening.  Throughout the course of the day I had to check my inside pocket on my coat at least 20 times to make sure the ring was in there and that I hadn’t fallen out.  Now it was crunch time.  I took the train from the airport in Chicago to a station about three blocks from my Aunt’s house.  Cailey was meeting me there and we were going to go downtown and walk around the city for a while.  My heart was pounding from then on.

            We decided to head to Navy Pier in Chicago, which is probably the city’s most prominent tourist attraction.  Unfortunately the weather was dismal.  It was about 35 degrees out and raining.  Not to mention that the city was living up to its nickname of the Windy City.  The gusts were atrocious and it was all in all a crappy night.  We went out to dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and after dinner I was going to make my move.  Navy Pier has the largest Ferris Wheel in the country.  It takes seven minutes for it to make one rotation.  I wanted to wait till we got to the peak of the ride and with the Chicago skyline in the background ask Cailey to marry me.  Obviously the Ferris Wheel was closed due to the inclement weather.  Cailey didn’t really care too much, but I truly was panicking.  I had to do this tonight and I had to make it magical.

            On to the impromptu plan B.  We took a cab to Millennium Park, which is very similar to the Boston Gardens, to walk around in the crappy weather and attempt to enjoy the night.  Millennium Park has an enormous statue of a Bean that reflects the entire city across the width of the structure.  Cailey and I always made it a point to visit the Bean whenever we were in town.  I was going to do it under the Bean!  As we got out of the cab Cailey started to complain about the pain in her heal from a new pair of shoes she was wearing.  She didn’t even want to stop at the Bean, she just wanted to sit on a bench and put on a few band-aids.  The asshole in me came out and I said, “no, I need a new picture with you in the Bean because I want to make it the background on the desktop of my computer.”  The cuteness of my comment convinced her to trudge along underneath the Bean.  My mom must have been looking down on me because nobody else was there and I knew she didn’t want a big public display with the engagement.  We’re under the Bean.  I pulled her close and kissed her.  I told her I loved her.  I got down on one knee.  She gives me the most shocked look I have ever seen.  I pull out the ring… and I drop the box and watch it go flying about ten feet because of the horrendous winds.

            I could have qualified for the Olympics in my sprint to go get that box.  I was able to recover it and return to Cailey, albeit so of the surprise element had diminished.  Again I got down on my knee and asked if she would marry me.  I didn’t get the initial response that I imagined I would.  She said, “Ah, Ah, Ah, ha-ha, YES.”  She actually laughed at me when I proposed to her.  It took her about ten minutes, but she eventually began balling her eyes out, which was my expected response from her.  She called her parents and I called my father and they were thrilled for us. 

             I married my best friend and I could not imagine ever asking for anything else. 

           

King Of Shadows

As I was reading Shurin's book I couldn't help but constantly think of my teaching.  I wasn't a huge fan of his work because of the distorted nature of the writing, but I felt that he could be used as a teaching tool for my students.  Stealing his fantastic way with words and the visualizations that he creates is something that I strive for in teaching writing to my students.  Too often they are only concerned with the easiest or quickest way out of the assignment and the overall substance can quickly dilute their writing. 

The perfect example of this visualization came on the beginning of "Morning in the Valley."  Shurin states, "An overstuffed white and yellow cat that belongs to the resort met me at the door to my room as I returned with morning coffee.  He nudged his head between my feet and he screen door to get in, but my allergy  rebuffed him.  His eyes were completely communicative- I have to say they spoke- with that balance and intellect that equals intimate conversation" (59).  He gives an accurate and complete picture of this seemingly simple cat and makes for a very intriguing piece of writing.  I use writing activities such as free writes and word webs to help encourage creativity in my students' writing, but it doesn't always work well.  Although some of his writing is inappropriate to use in the middle school level I think it would be a solid starting point for descriptive and creative writing. 

Although it was somewhat disturbing, I found "Three Scenes from the Sauna at the YMCA" to be a very unique piece of writing.  Shurin is very open with his writing and does it as though he doesn't care what his audience will think.  A gay man having nude encounters with three very different people and the observations that he speaks of is a rather novel idea.  Conveying his ideas as bluntly as possible is the best way for him to work.  Within my own writing I struggle with that bluntness because I feel like my audience may get too caught up in the concept I am conveying and the bigger picture of my writing may be weakened.  Hopefully using Shurin's uncanny methods can make me grow as a writer. 

The Writing Life

This being my second class with Professor Ramos, I am somewhat used to the disjointed story that from time to time jumps around without much cohesion.  That was my first impression of Dillard's book.  She offers up much insight into the life of a writer and the challenges that are regularly faced by people bold enough to sit in front of a computer and trudge up page after page.  It is clear that she feels writing is a challenge and without much effort a writer will not succeed.

I was particularly drawn to a passage that stated, "The written word is weak.  Many people prefer life to it.  Life gets your blood going, and it smells good.  Writing is mere writing, literature is mere.  It appeals only to the subtlest senses- the imagination's vision, and the imagination's hearing- and the moral sense, and the intellect" (17).  I struggle with her assertion that the written word is weak.  That is a statement that is completely open to interpretation.  The written word is magical and when created properly can do wonders.  It ispires people to do great things, it moves people to see situations in a new light, and can teach people many new things.  The only merit in her statement is that when compared to actually living and experiencing life, written words lack a sense of reality that cannot be duplicated.  That shouldn't be a knock on writing though.  They are completely different entities and should be treated as such.

Dillard can help me as a writer because it is reassuring to know that even the professionals struggle mightily with their work.  When you see a writer like Stephen King spit out a lengthy work every year you wonder if he ever struggles, but I'm sure he does.  The important thing to remember is that writing is fluid and must be treated as such.  If you can't do that then the struggles will continue.  I know I struggle and as long as I can deal with the writing process being exactly that, a "process" I will hopefully continue to improve.