displayfireworks1
10-25-2013, 08:26 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twP8ASFrXvE
http://universalwebsites.theknot.com.s3.amazonaws.com/UniversalWebsites/PageMainImage/7644012110541224/2443144/35231830/med/ruthring.jpg
About Ruth
How did we meet? Well, that depends on who you ask. Since I, Jimmy, am writing this, you get my point of view.
It was August of 2008. Gillette, Wyoming was the place. Another PGI convention. I had arrived early to set up, and I saw the sound crew loading in their gear, so I stopped by to say hello. There was a rather attractive blonde lass with them so I decided to turn on the charm and introduce myself. "Hi- My name is Jimmy. What's yours?" She replied "Ruth- same as it was when you asked me last year". Blonde-1, Charm-0
As the week went on, we spent a lot of time working together during the evening events. It was pretty cold that year, so I gave her one of my sweatshirts to wear. She smiled at me and said "Thank you". Wow. After that, I found myself looking for her during the day, making up reasons to go by the sound tent, inventing questions to ask her for no reason, etc. Typical high-school stuff. By the end of the week, I knew that I wanted to spend more than one week with her. But that's another story.
"Her Version":
Some guy started following me around like some kind of lost puppy dog. I figured I would humor him so he would leave me alone. Didn't work out that way.
.
How we got engaged
It was time to do what I should have done long before. The challenge was to make the proposal meaningful and memorable, without being cheesy or weird. Since cheesy and weird come quite naturally to me, it was causing me a bit of concern.
Once again, we were at the PGI convention. On Friday, we have a banquet, where we can all get together one last time before the convention ends and we go our separate ways for another year. Part of the banquet ceremonies are the presentation of trophies to competitors, and awards to volunteers and people who have made significant contributions to the PGI and the fireworks community. I had just presented the award for Safety Team Volunteer of the Year, and I told the audience (a few hundred of our closest friends) that I had one more thing I would like to say. I asked Ruth to join me at the lectern, and said something like this:
"You have done an amazing job as Production Manager this week. But I can't give you an award for that. And I don't have a trophy to give to you. And I don't have a wallaby for you, either. But I do have this (reach into my pocket and pull out a piece of pink scab wire). It's not a real ring, because I'm a lazy procrastinating bastard and I haven't gotten one yet. But I hope it will do until I do get one for you. Will you marry me?"
She said yes, and she cried. I wrapped the pink wire around her finger. The crowd cheered and applauded. So I guess I did OK.
And the wallaby? She knows what it means (and no, she still can't have one). But she does have a real ring now.
http://universalwebsites.theknot.com.s3.amazonaws.com/UniversalWebsites/PhotoAlbumImage/7644012110541224/2443144/35231836/1489641/med/facebook_1958309142.jpg
http://universalwebsites.theknot.com.s3.amazonaws.com/UniversalWebsites/PhotoAlbumImage/7644012110541224/2443144/35231836/1489641/med/facebook_-1681441224.jpg
http://universalwebsites.theknot.com.s3.amazonaws.com/UniversalWebsites/PhotoAlbumImage/7644012110541224/2443144/35231836/1489641/med/facebook_-600516320.jpg
http://universalwebsites.theknot.com.s3.amazonaws.com/UniversalWebsites/PageMainImage/7644012110541224/2443144/35231830/med/ruthring.jpg
About Ruth
How did we meet? Well, that depends on who you ask. Since I, Jimmy, am writing this, you get my point of view.
It was August of 2008. Gillette, Wyoming was the place. Another PGI convention. I had arrived early to set up, and I saw the sound crew loading in their gear, so I stopped by to say hello. There was a rather attractive blonde lass with them so I decided to turn on the charm and introduce myself. "Hi- My name is Jimmy. What's yours?" She replied "Ruth- same as it was when you asked me last year". Blonde-1, Charm-0
As the week went on, we spent a lot of time working together during the evening events. It was pretty cold that year, so I gave her one of my sweatshirts to wear. She smiled at me and said "Thank you". Wow. After that, I found myself looking for her during the day, making up reasons to go by the sound tent, inventing questions to ask her for no reason, etc. Typical high-school stuff. By the end of the week, I knew that I wanted to spend more than one week with her. But that's another story.
"Her Version":
Some guy started following me around like some kind of lost puppy dog. I figured I would humor him so he would leave me alone. Didn't work out that way.
.
How we got engaged
It was time to do what I should have done long before. The challenge was to make the proposal meaningful and memorable, without being cheesy or weird. Since cheesy and weird come quite naturally to me, it was causing me a bit of concern.
Once again, we were at the PGI convention. On Friday, we have a banquet, where we can all get together one last time before the convention ends and we go our separate ways for another year. Part of the banquet ceremonies are the presentation of trophies to competitors, and awards to volunteers and people who have made significant contributions to the PGI and the fireworks community. I had just presented the award for Safety Team Volunteer of the Year, and I told the audience (a few hundred of our closest friends) that I had one more thing I would like to say. I asked Ruth to join me at the lectern, and said something like this:
"You have done an amazing job as Production Manager this week. But I can't give you an award for that. And I don't have a trophy to give to you. And I don't have a wallaby for you, either. But I do have this (reach into my pocket and pull out a piece of pink scab wire). It's not a real ring, because I'm a lazy procrastinating bastard and I haven't gotten one yet. But I hope it will do until I do get one for you. Will you marry me?"
She said yes, and she cried. I wrapped the pink wire around her finger. The crowd cheered and applauded. So I guess I did OK.
And the wallaby? She knows what it means (and no, she still can't have one). But she does have a real ring now.
http://universalwebsites.theknot.com.s3.amazonaws.com/UniversalWebsites/PhotoAlbumImage/7644012110541224/2443144/35231836/1489641/med/facebook_1958309142.jpg
http://universalwebsites.theknot.com.s3.amazonaws.com/UniversalWebsites/PhotoAlbumImage/7644012110541224/2443144/35231836/1489641/med/facebook_-1681441224.jpg
http://universalwebsites.theknot.com.s3.amazonaws.com/UniversalWebsites/PhotoAlbumImage/7644012110541224/2443144/35231836/1489641/med/facebook_-600516320.jpg