The Big Night!

It's finally here. After almost 48 years without ever being married (or engaged for that matter) tonight I am proposing to my lovely girlfriend Angelina. I NEVER thought I'd be doing this -- I mean, after I turned 45 I figured marriage was a mine field that I had carefully and expertly navigated through without being blown to pieces. Many if not most of my friends have been married two, three even -- that's right -- four times, and for many years I feared that I too would suffer the same results if I were to get married. But, I have met the perfect girl and she's the best thing by far that has ever happened to me, so I'm thumbing my nose to all the naysayers and I'm taking the big leap -- that is, if she says "yes". We haven't discussed it that much, and she's not one of those women who is always pushing to get married -- so I really am hopeful she'll go with the program. If not, I just spent a s---load of money on a fancy piece of glass that I don't imagine they'll take back. So, we'll see. I know she won't read this before I pop the question, because she's scared to see what I'm writing on my blog and has stayed away from it altogether. One problem is that long ago I told many of my male friends that if I ever started talking marriage that they were to hit me in the face as hard as they could -- to really lay me out, to just cold-cock me. I hope they've all forgotten their promises, because otherwise I'm going to be walking around wearing a catcher's mask for the next couple of weeks to avoid getting my ass kicked. I'm taking Angelina to an Italian restaurant, the same place where we had our first date 2.5 years ago. I'm thinking of hiding the ring in our antipasti. If it all goes as planned, it will be THE greatest night of my life. If not, I may jump off the Bay Bridge. Speaking of the Bay Bridge -- to see how it will look after the construction is completed (20 years from now?) take a peek at: www.sfgate.com\baybridge.