Paul's Blog Entry...Finally!

First off, I want to wish Donna a happy birthday! For those that don’t know, today is her birthday and is also exactly one year from the day we got engaged. So today I’d like to share one of her favorite stories from the planning process that went into surprising her with an engagement ring in Hawaii!

After finding the perfect engagement ring at Robins Brothers (little promo there!), I wanted to get permission from Donna’s father before proceeding with my plans. Unfortunately, flying to Hawaii wasn’t really an option, so I had to do this over the phone. My first hurdle was getting his cell phone number so I could talk to him while Donna was still at work. After getting the number from my future brother-in-law (Elliot), I decided it was time to make the call.

I’ll admit that I was a bit nervous. As the phone began to ring, I tried to go through what I would say in my head. He answered the phone around the third ring. I started by introducing myself (though we had meet several times before), but I knew he didn’t have my cell phone number saved in his phone and he wasn’t expecting my call.

“Hello Mr. Umali, this is Paul, Donna’s boyfriend.”

He responded by saying hello, though I got the feeling he wasn’t quite sure who I was yet. I was probably talking fairly fast, as I often do when I get a little nervous. But I decided to continue on anyway.

“Mr. Umali, I’m calling to ask for your permission to propose to your daughter.”

There were a few seconds of silence that seemed like an eternity before he responded with:

“What’s your proposal?”

I figured that he didn’t know who I was, so I tried to start over again.

“This is Paul, Donna’s boyfriend, and I’d like to ask your permission to marry your daughter.”

“Which one?” He responded.

Now, I was a bit flustered. I was pretty nervous going into the call, and it was not going anywhere close to how I had played it out in my head. When you stop to think about the question he asked, then you’ll realize how it threw me off. Joyce (one of Donna’s younger sister’s) had gotten married the previous summer and Arleen (the only other sister Donna has) was 14 years old at the time...

But after taking a moment to collect myself, I told him that it was Donna that I wanted to marry. And after telling him one more time who I was, it finally clicked. In the end, he of course gave me permission and later told us that he originally thought it was a co-worker playing a prank on him. I’m sure the whole thing would have gone much smoother had I been able to do it in person, but then we wouldn’t have this fun little story to share with all of you.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the wedding in June!

-Paul