Todays Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul

[Guest guest]

Storybook Proposal

By Cummings

and I met in our first semester of college and dated for almost

six

years. Regardless of how crafty and intuitive my ideas, I was never able to

surprise her with anything. was investigative and I was naive - not a

good combination for a surprise. Leave it to me to accidentally leave

behind a

receipt or just happen to be checking voicemail on a speakerphone when the

restaurant or florist would call to confirm.

Time after time, I tried to surprise her. Time after time, I failed.

When I began to think about a long-overdue proposal, I wanted nothing

more

than to surprise her. So I embarked upon a personal journey to find a

unique

and special way to pop the question.

After much thought - and some interesting suggestions from friends and

coworkers - I decided to incorporate two of 's loves: reading (her

graduate-school pursuit) and pigs (her favorite animal since childhood) into

a

storybook proposal. My dream was to create and publish a children's book in

which two little pigs, Emmy and Matty, would parallel the story of and

me.

I was working in public relations for a school district. I asked an

art

teacher if she knew any students skilled in cartoon illustration. Without

hesitation she put me in touch with , a tenth-grader who excitedly

showed

me his portfolio. I hired him on the spot. Page by page, I sent the

manuscript

to for custom drawings. And I began to write.

I wrote about two little pigs that meet in a college computer lab, just

like and I. My story detailed Emmy and Matty's journey through the

years.

On page eight, the two little pigs find themselves in front of a sunset.

" One fall evening, Matty had an important question for Emmy, " the page

read. The proposal page followed.

Upon completion of the illustrations, text and layout of the story, my

creation was ready to be printed. It came back in the form of a real book,

hardbound. I had done it. I successfully produced the entire book in

complete

secrecy. After all these years, I would surprise .

On a random Thursday, I told I had found a couple of cute

children's

books on sale for her collection. Naturally she wanted to take a look, so

the

first one I gave her was The Story of the Two Little Pigs.

As she read the first couple of pages, she started to catch on that I

had

written a book for her, but had no I idea it would change both of our lives

forever.

As she approached the proposal page, I asked her to stand up. I bent

down

on one knee as I watched her eyes follow the words on the paper that simply

said, " Suzanne . . . Will You Marry Me? " She was speechless as she

looked

up and saw me with a ring in my hand.

Stunned, she closed the book and gave me a big hug. " Yes, yes and yes!

Of

course. I love you! "

We hugged for a couple of minutes and I wiped the tears from her eyes.

I

urged her to turn to the last page of her storybook proposal - an

illustration

of pigs dressed in wedding gown and tuxedo.

It read, in appropriate storybook fashion: " Emmy and Matty lived

happily

ever after. "