Clueless...so clueless.

We had a joint English-Chinese service today at church and Pastor Chan announced it (again) that Tim and I got engaged. He had us stand up in front of all 400 or so people while they clapped, and I blushed furiously and Tim sheepishly waved at everyone.

So I was telling a friend of mine the other day the whole proposal story in all its detail (as any girl is apt to do) and she simply couldn't believe I didn't see it coming, even up to minute before it happened. "How could you not have known?" she exclaimed after every other sentence I completed. "I-I don't know," I shrugged my shoulders and just grinned. In retrospect though, I suppose there were many clues, subtle and glaringly obvious, that just went over my head.

Clue #1, Thursday:
I was at church with Tim and some of the worship team who were prepping for the weekend. I was telling Kelsey to make the set a little shorter because we were supposed to have communion that Sunday, when Tim interrupted. "Uh, there's no communion this Sunday."
"What? How would you know?" I asked over my shoulder.
There was just the slightest bit of hesitation (during which Tim was thinking to himself "Oh CRAP" as he told me afterward), and then he said "Oh, because Pastor Dave told me."
OK. That wasn't really adding up. I mean, we talk to our pastor, but it's not like he'll randomly call one of us to give us the insider information for Sunday. I narrowed my eyes as I turned around to look at him. "What, you just happened to ask him?"
"Oh, well its because Jon wants to sing a song on Sunday. And uh, he asked to ask Pastor Dave...so, yeah."
It made sense, so my curiousity was sufficient satisfied.

Clue #2 Friday:
Joe, Tim and I were hanging out at their place when Joe asked Tim out of the blue, "Hey, so when are you and Jon practicing the song?"
My back was turned to them both at the time, so I missed the whole drama played out in facial expressions. Joe had no idea about the conversation that had taken place on Thursday, so he thought he had made a huge blunder. Tim stared him down with a mixed expression of shock and fury. Joe responded with a look of wide-eyed fear and apology. And in the meantime, I was spreading some double-cream brie on a slice of baguette and thinking, "Mmmm. Cheeese."
Anyway, I guess that counted as a clue, too. Why would Joe care if Jon and Tim were going to do a song? I was too wrapped in my piece of cheese to notice.

Clue #3, Saturday:
"So, my parents are coming down for the day tomorrow," Tim told me as were hanging out at his place again.
"Really? What's the occasion?" I asked.
"Oh, well uh, they wanted to see that loft we were interested in" he stated simply.
"Say what?", I exclaimed. "We just told them that we liked it, we're not ready to buy it or anything!" Tim and I have been doing some condo and loft shopping in the last few weeks, realizing that it was actually kind of fun. We weren't ready to put down the cash and sign up for a mortgage anytime soon, though.
"Well, you know that's how they are, kinda spontaneous when it comes to visiting...and they're going to be here for church service tomorrow too" he added with some trepidation as he backed away from me a little as I had a mini spazz-out.
"Well now I have to tell my parents!" I wailed. "Because they're so going to run into each at church tomorrow and my parents are going to find out why your parents are here! And now I have to tell them that we're looking at condos and they're totally start getting all opinionated on me and I really don't want to deal that right now."
I should add that we were not the only people in the room, a few friends were over and they sat there in awkward silence, while concentrating a little too hard on the TV screen during our whole exchange.

Clue #4: Saturday night
Well, I ended telling my mom about Tim's parents upcoming visit, our clandestine condo shopping, and she took it all with a breezy, "Oh really? That's nice! Let's all have lunch together tomorrow. Dad and I will go the early service instead." No lecture on why we were already looking at condos. Nothing. I was too relieved to think anything more of it.

Clue #5: Sunday morning
I greeted Tim's parents at door at 9:30. I saw that Tim's dad had a video camera bag slung over his shoulder and still, no flags went in my mind. I mean, it was about as surprising to me as seeing my own shadow on the wall. Which is to say, not surprising at all.

Tim, his parents, and I headed down the side of the sanctuary to find an empty row and I was to sit down. I sat down first and turned to say something to Tim and then nearly head-butted his mom by accident, who had settled down next to me. I was a little confused as Tim had seated himself on the other side of his parents even though seconds before he was walking right behind me. I decided I was giving this more attention than it deserved (uh, yeah right) and brushed it off.

Finally with 10 minutes left in the service, Pastor Dave introduced Jon to go up to the stage to sing his song. Although, something didn't seem right. Jon was sitting with his guitar, far away from any microphone and Tim was standing right in front of one, holding only a little piece of paper in his hand. "That's funny, I thought Tim was going to play the guitar," I whispered to his mom, who replied back, "I've never heard Tim sing before!"

And would you believe that at this point, I still had no inkling of what was to come? I mean, Tim sings, but he's not a singer. It's not really his thing. Drumming is his thing. Quoting C.S. Lewis is his thing. Taking pictures is definitely his thing. But singing? Not really. Despite the oddness of the situation, I thought to myself that maybe has was singing some backup vocal for Jon.

So the guitar intro began, and Tim began to sing...and it was off-key. Now, a lot of you know that I am really picky about music. And you know how you can feel really embarrassed for someone? Well, I felt so mortified for him, that I couldn't look at him. Two thoughts entered my mind simultaneously at the point: "WHAT on earth is he doing?" and "Why the heck is he singing Amanda Marshall?!"

And then it hit me. I realized it at the third line of the song. I suddenly understood what was going on - I was being proposed to, at church, with Tim's own version of Amanda Marshall's "Marry Me", and OH MY GOODNESS HE'S PROPOSING TO ME. Instantaneously, the tears came bursting of my tear ducts, I clasped a shaking hand over my slack-jawed mouth, and used all the willpower I could muster to avoid breaking into loud, rasping sobs. Which probably would have been a little awkward for everyone.

Now, I understood what was going on by the third line, but almost everyone else was probably confused all the way until the end of the first verse, which ended on the words, "...that you'll marry me". At that point, a collective gasp went up around the sanctuary, heads whipped around from every direction to look at me, and people started to clap.

Tim, at this point, had given up at trying to sing the song since he was getting pretty choked up (although many friends told me that he had nailed it a couple of times practicing the night before) so he just spoke the lyrics instead, while the music continued to play in the background. Everything was so well-planned that he had the lyrics up on the screen in Macromedia Flash. Finally at the end of the song, he beckoned me up to come to the front of the sanctuary, and as I approached, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Although everything at that point onward is a bit of a blur, I did say "Yes", or some form of it, and he put the ring on my finger, flashbulbs went off and we were surrounded by a crowd of well-wishers. "Tim, I was thinking, 'I'll marry you!'" shouted one of our friends.

Well there you have it. I was completely caught off-guard despite the pretty obvious (in retrospect) signs that were more or less thrown in my face. I like my surpises, though.

For all of you who weren't there and want to know what was in the lyrics of the song Tim sang/spoke (he changed quite a few of the lines from the original song), read on:

I wanna laugh, until I cry
Wake up with you each day till the day I die
We've been to New Orleans, we've been to Gaspe
Took funny pictures, ate jambalaya and cafe au lait
But when the day is over, and I stumble home
I dream and sleep
that you'll marry me

I wanna drive until we get lost
Stand in field lookin up at the sky
while we worship the Holy cross
Somehow I know without asking why
That you love me more in a minute
Than anyone could in a lifetime
All the joy that you've brought
completes my whole world inside
Swept me off my feet
Baby, marry me

We'll need a preacher man
Reading from the good book
And you'll want a classy dress
Ain't no ceremony for the vows that I took
From the moment I met you
I have been blessed

So let's make a toast
And drink up the wine
Here's to you lying here next to me
Until the end of time
Whereever you are, I wanna be
And everything that means anything to you
Means everything to me
Singing in this church hall
In front of all of these eyes
And they'll talk for weeks
But we're all we need
So baby, if you're free
Marry me...