Sunday, March 25, 2012

NANCY

Yesterday I made the biggest decision of my life. I asked a twenty-two year old gal (who was born and raised on the other side of the world) to marry me... to be my wife.

Her name is Zhou Kehui, but a lot of us call her Nancy.

I often think of my life in terms of the ultimate film. In the grand screenplay that it's based on the scene when she first appeared went something like this...

INT. APARTMENT - NIGHT


A BEAUTIFUL ASIAN (20) walks through the apartment door. 


Time stops for the AVERAGE-LOOKING WHITE KID (21).

She literally entered through the door of my home at that time, passing a threshold into my shabby apartment and also walking into my life. The rest, as they say, is history.


Yesterday morning I drove Nancy past that very apartment building. "I used to live there," I reminded her. She commented on it being the place where we first met. The drive took us to 9th East in Provo, Utah where I headed North to Rock Canyon Park. We passed the MTC and the Provo Temple along the way. It was a brief, landmark journey. I had asked Nancy the night before to help with a service project. It was a test, a final test I suppose. Would she be willing to get up on a Saturday morning and do some good for the community? I had informed her that we were going to help pick up trash at the park. She wasn't happy about it (who would be?), but after some coaxing she tagged along.

We reached the park. I parked.  Nancy got out of the car with one of those big, pitch-black garbage bags. I took my time getting out (I had to stuff the ring box in the left pocket of my jeans - not easy). Nancy, bless her soul, was already starting to pick up trash. We walked around and couldn't find the others. She was confused. I wasn't. I suggested we just clean on our own.

Nancy was on one side of the picnic tables and benches, I was on the other. I wasted absolutely no time. I got the ring box out of my pocket and got on one knee. We hadn't been "picking" for more than a minute when I called for her. "Oh Nancy! Look at this!" I was beside a chain-link fence, pointing down in a ravine it protected me from. "Look down there. Do you see that?" She came over to where I was. Again, she was confused. I wasn't. She was wondering what I was so eager for her to see. When she was standing beside me I produced the open ring box and popped the question.

"Oh my gosh!" (She said this when she saw the ring, before I even asked.)
"What the heck!" (She said this after I asked.)
"Yes." (She said this a few seconds later once she had caught her breath. She had started to cry immediately.)

I have such an accurate record of those events because I had set my iPhone to record (audio only) in my shirt pocket.

Yesterday Nancy made the biggest decision of her life. She said, "Yes."

In truth, it was not a descision made yesterday. It had been a long time coming and we had already been planning a wedding this year. We were both anticipating a proposal, but I was lucky enough to have a bit of a surprise for her.

I wanted to do something film-related for the proposal (Nancy and I both have a passion for film and filmmaking) so I decided to do a loosely-based reenactment that we would post to YouTube and Facebook in order to announce our engagement. We did that yesterday afternoon. I had a vision of what I wanted it to be and it turned out even better (usually it is the other way around). My roommate helped us shoot the short film with Nancy's iPad using the 8MM app. After we were done shooting I edited the raw footage on the iPad with the Silent Film Director Pro app. Technology. See the result below:


I love Nancy.

3 comments:

  1. I had not heard the details until now. I had only seen the pic of the ring on her hand and the movie. That was simple and sweet, just like the movie and just like the two of you. I wish you all the blessings that God can bestow on His children. In your short film you are following a path. May you continue to follow God's path so He may be the Third partner in your marriage and throughout your life together here and to infinity beyond. All my love, Not the Daddy

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  2. What a sweet post. And way to go, Nancy, for passing that final test! ;) So thrilled for you guys!

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