Valerie loves her life the way she always thought it should be, alone. Taking every precaution to make sure that her place is only temporary no matter where she finds herself. But sometimes her heart gets in the way. When she stumbles across what ma...
Life comes at you fast. What takes years to build can fall apart almost instantly. For a while the Chicago Blackhawks were a dynasty, we were untouchable. There wasn't a franchise out there that could hold a candle to us in 2015. We were the standard, the goal. Franchises were trying to be the next Chicago Blackhawk's.
And while I continue to grow, continue to get better the team slips. By 2020 it really feels like things can't get much worse. Couldn't get into the playoffs if we tried and all the guys who were once said to be the future of the team was gone. It was just a bunch of contracts that weren't looking too good and some old guys fighting injuries that it would take a miracle to come back from.
Then on top of that COVID has shut everything down. No traveling, no sports, no work, no nothing. You order your food online and schedule times to pick it up. Everything you thought you knew about the world, knew about the people who occupy it, it was wrong. It took days for everything to go to shit and now we are forced to sit and wait for things to get better. We needed change from a world terrified to change.
But if you're lucky, like me, you get stuck with someone who knows how to make the best out of a shitty situation. Who has seen the world for all its ugliness from the beginning. I think she is the most unbothered by this whole situation. The girl who has worked damn near all her life finally gets told to stay at home. She was teaching me how to cook, I got her to play dance dance revelation with me. And we FaceTime our families every day.
The situation sucked, that much was true. But there was never a bad day with her.
COVID messed up a lot of things, but nothing more than my plans to propose to Valerie. We've been together for almost four years now. Talked a lot about the future, about marriage and starting a family. And just when we thought we had it figured out COVID hit. For the first time in her life she couldn't go out there and save the world. She was stuck with me and I am doing my best to keep her happy. I got her to see all the classic movies and she is freakishly good at doing puzzles. We've done like 10 already and all over 1000 pieces.
While this lock down has taken a lot from us it has given us a lot too. Now I see that all I need from this life is food, water, and Valerie. That's enough to keep me satisfied. And I wanted her to know that I plan on it being us for the rest of our lives.
So I start to plan. I knew her ring size and I order the perfect one for her. Now it was the matter of asking her in a way that she knows that she has a choice. The last thing I wanted was for her to feel like she has to say yes. The second to last thing I wanted was for her to think that this wasn't something I didn't think about every day of my life either.
Planning a proposal was hard because she had an idea but she probably wasn't expecting it to come in the middle of all of this. But this was the perfect time to make the best out of a shitty situation. Make a beautiful moment in a ugly time in this world. It feels like the world was crumbling and I wanted to hold on to what I love with all my might.
And that's just what I was going to do.
"Where did you get this puzzle from" she asks as I nervously set it on our puzzle table. We have a puzzle table now.
"I got this one made, just for us" I say.
"Oh cool! What is it" she smiles.
"It's a surprise" I try as I take the lid off.
"How am I supposed to do a puzzle if I don't know what it is supposed to look like" she challenges.
"You're a smart girl, I think you can figure it out. Plus once you realize what it is I don't think it would take long" I admit.
"I do like a good challenge" she smirks as she rubs her hands together. Sometimes I think that if she was a villain she would actually be unstoppable.
She starts by separating the edge pieces and the middle pieces like always. Once the corners were set up she starts to work her way around. Before long the outside was done and it was time to fill it.
I watch nervously as I bite my lip. Not too long ago I got the idea to get a picture of us turned into a puzzle with the words "will you marry me" on a huge piece I actually have taped under the table. In my mind this plays out perfectly but I also know that a lot of times things like this don't go to plan. I've learned in my time with her that love isn't going to be perfect. And it shouldn't be. Sometimes, like this puzzle the pieces that you think fit simply don't. Eventually the right piece finds its way to where it belongs but it still sucks when you realize what you have isn't what you thought it was. But this love, it was worth it in the end. I didn't want perfect, I wanted it to be worth while. And it was and I'm willing to bet it always will be.
After about 20 minutes she recognizes the picture and not long after that she got the pieces to where they were go. She realizes a few were missing but in reality it was just one big piece to put down.
"You gave me a incomplete puzzle? Do you hate me" she asks as I laugh.
"Nope. I saved the best for last" I insist. I grab the piece and hand it to her upside down. "Don't flip it over until you finish the puzzle. It's a surprise" I explain.
".... alright then" she answers a little skeptical of my behavior.
She places the piece down as I grab the ring out of my other pocket. She smiles big proud of her accomplishment just admiring the work. She was so excited when she realized it was a picture of us.
Slowly she reads what was on there and the smile on her face gets frozen. Her hand covers her mouth before the gasp could escape. She leans in closer to make sure she was reading this right before turning to me.
"Patrick" she whispers.
I get on one knee next to her and hold up the ring. I have to admit I think I did pretty well. The black was sleek but still her color.
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"When we first met you said you didn't want to be like water, you wanted to be like the mountains. Standing tall and strong, never to move from their place on this earth.
But I believe our love is strong enough to move the tallest mountains. There's no obstacle too high, too strong or too big to stop me from being with you. This love we share knows no limits.
And I know you would never ask me to move a mountain for you. But because of the love we share I know I could. So that's why I wanted to ask you to marry me. Because a love this deep deserves to come to the surface. A love as high as the mountains deserves to be seen. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I want to do it right" I say.
"Yes" she cries as she wipes away a stray tear. I felt like my heart was going to hop out of my chest right there.
My shaky hands manage to get the ring on her finger. Before I can even grab my phone to take some pictures she wraps her arms around my neck before falling back into the floor. I close my eyes as my arms wrap around her.
"I love you" she whispers in my ear.
"I love you when you're unpredictable water, and I love you when you're a immovable mountain.
