Kim went over to Mary’s house on Sunday, February 12th and had supper. Later on, Mary’s parents stopped by with her youngest brother and sister. Shortly after a brief visit, Mary’s roommate Janna Loose called Mary, her mum and her siblings into the other room. It was just Kim and Mary’s dad in the living room — alone on the chesterfield. They chewed the fat for a while, and then Kim began to steer the conversation toward his relationship with Mary. Having stuttered while beating around the bush for a while, and not sure exactly how to ask Mary’s dad for her hand in marriage, Kim was at a loss at exactly what words to say. Then Mary’s dad blurted out, “Well, I’m going to tell you what my father-in-law told me. Welcome to the family.” What a relief!
Saturday, February 18th, found us in downtown Vancouver picking out a ties for Kim to wear to the Valentine’s dance that night, and a new dress for Mary. While we were downtown, we decided we might as well fill out the bridal registry at The Bay. It was a great experience choosing out all these expensive china settings, and linens, not having to worry about ever paying for them.
Later on, we went back to Kim’s house to have supper, and Mary met his parents for the first time. They knew we were seeing each other, but they had no idea (although they suspected something) that they were going to be getting married.
Kim drove Mary and Jody to the YSA Valentine’s Dance with his parents’ car. Mary sat in the front, and Kim gave her the card he had bought the day before. She opened it up, and read it, but didn’t say anything because it instructed her not to.
We danced throughout the night, and were really enjoying ourselves. Earlier on in the two weeks previous, Kim had asked Mary what her favourite ballad was, and she said it was “The One” by Elton John. Well, he made a mental note of that, and a few days before the dance had phoned up the deejay to request that song to be played at precisely 10:30, and that it be mentioned that I had requested it for Mary. Well, about 10:00, the deejay called out, “This next song goes out to Mary from Kim.” Kim was panicking. His whole plan was going awry. It wasn’t even “The One” — it was “All I Want is You” by U2. Kim went to clear up the misunderstanding, and it turned out that it was a song that Mary had requested, but not for Kim . . . just because.
Well, the plan was back on, and at 10:30, they announced it properly. After the song was over, Kim gently whispered to Mary, “I have something to talk to you about.” They went around the corner into the Seminary wing of the meeting house because it was more secluded.
Kim positioned Mary so her back was to the direction from which they had just came, and told her to close her eyes and to open them until she heard her full name.
In the meantime, two friend of Kim, Sean Irwin and Dan Jimmie, had followed them into the hallway, and quietly knelt behind them. With a nod from Kim, they started into an acapela version of “Earth Angel”. When they were finished, Kim said out loud, “Mary Rachel Golbeck.”
As instructed, Mary opened her eyes. She saw Kim kneeling down on one knee with a velvet, green box in his outstretched hand. Green is Mary’s favourite colour, and inside this box, which was now open, was a shiny engagement ring.
“Will you marry me?”
“Yes, of course” was the answer.
Then they went back to the gym and Mary showed off her new possession (the ring). Kim then asked Sean Irwin to be his best man, and Dan Jimmie to be a groomsman, and June 2 was set as the wedding date.