A question you should say yes to

Can we talk about my whole notion of how the ideal proposal should take place originates the time I caught the bitter end of an episode of Scrubs (back when it was good and before I started watching it for its surprisingly verisimilitude to real hospital life)? I happened to see a part of the show where Turk proposes to Carla and playing in the background one of my favorite songs, the Old 97s’s “The Question.” Here are the lyrics (keep in mind that in the Scrubs episode that I saw they do go to a park and everything):

She woke from a dream
Her head was on fire
Why was he so nervous?
He took her to the park
She crossed her arms
And lowered her eyelids

Someday, somebody's gonna ask you
A question that you should say yes to
Once in your life
Baby, tonight I've got a question for you

She had no idea
Started to cry
She said in a good way
He took her by the hand
Walked her back home
And they took the long way

chorus repeats

And here is the bitter end of the episode that I caught:

Now, what I didn’t know and didn’t learn until after my impressionable 22 year old mind had already subscribed to this proposal format, is that in this show Carla refuses Turk a bunch of times before finally accepting him! Anyway, when A. kept asking me questions about hypothetical proposal styles, I kept repeating that I didn’t want to discover a ring in an eggroll, have a ton of people observe the whole situation and clap afterwards, or any other cheesy scenario. I told him that I loved the idea of being on a walk, in a park or some other kind of low-key setting. This led to number of (retrospectively) hilarious A. stories since he ended up carrying the engagement ring around in his pocket for 6 months. Two general near proposal moments that occurred repeatedly will now be related:

Near proposal moment sketch #1:

(On a walk in Austin, San Antonio, Montreal, Quebec City, Hartford or Providece, talking politics as usual.)

Goldie: I can’t believe you think such _______ things. (Fill in blank with racist, elitist, or any other adjective I use when losing an argument.)

A (thinking): Guess today’s not the day…

Near proposal moment sketch #2:

A: Why don’t we go for a walk?

Goldie: Are you kidding? There are 2 feet of snow outside/ It’s freezing/ It’s raining!

This reminds me of a proposal story I heard recently where the guy only had one day off that week and he had planned a picnic. He followed though with the plan even though it rained the whole time! I love it: “I’m proposing today over a picnic and I don’t care if we have to sit in the damn rain!”

And just since we’re on proposals, I loved the episode when Elliot gets engaged and plans a re-enactment of the proposal with everyone she knows there. So funny!

Tags: proposals, Scrubs, the Old 97's