Back to the Story... March, 2006 - Making the BIG Decision

And so it was, that in March of 2006, Joni went back to visit Stephen again. Joni came to believe that this was the best time of year to visit Melbourne - it was Fall, and the weather was beautiful!! Hence the quality time spent lying beneath two palm trees in the Victoria Gardens with a bottle of wine, mocking two semi-Goth kids in the middle of a blazing yelling fight in the middle of the gardens.

It was during this visit that our heroes made the BIG decision to spend their lives together. Funnily enough, there was very much a progression of a proposal throughout the trip, including a non-proposal at Angus and Robertson, a near-proposal at the Twelve Apostles, and an honest-to-God kinda-sorta, 'Hey, we really need to get married' quasi-proposal in Stephen's car.

The Non-Proposal...

JONI: (Standing in front of the bargain table at Angus and Robertson, oogling many, many books on said discount table) "Oh! I always wanted to read this!"

STEPHEN: (Standing next to her) "Yeah, I have that."

JONI: (now oogling another book...) "Oh! I always wanted to read this!"

STEPHEN: (Standing next to her) "Yeah, I have that, too."

JONI: (now oogling another book...) "Oh! I always wanted to read this!"
STEPHEN: (Standing next to her) "Uh, yeah, I have that one, too."

JONI: "Wow! You have everything!"

STEPHEN: "Well, I guess you'll just have to marry me and move to Melbourne to be with me and my book collection." (sharp intake of breath, look of abject terror, and desparate attempt to pull the words back in to his mouth...)

JONI: (now laughing hysterically at the aforementioned look of terror on Stephen's face...) "I know that wasn't really a - you know,"

STEPHEN: "Princess, you know it will be more romantic than that when it does happen, right? You know that wasn't real, right?"

JONI: "Yeah, I know, but you should have seen your face..."

After a Near-Miss... Stephen hits one for six...

Following the non-proposal in Angus and Robertson, Joni and Stephen talked more and more about figuring out forever, and how could they make a marriage work despite the distance and difference between their two homelands.

And so, they embarked on a road trip to the Twelve Apostles, where, come to find out, Stephen had planned on proposing. During that road trip, they got to talk about a ton of things, including marriage and forever. Thus, the near-proposal at the Apostles. But they weren't quite ready, so it remains the near-proposal. But the sunset over the Southern Ocean was priceless and peerless, to be sure.

And then, the quasi-proposal that has led us to this moment, now a few scant weeks away from Stephen and Joni's actual wedding...

So, a funny thing happened on the way from Flinders to Melbourne... after an evening of supper and boiled crabs for Clan Tuck (long story....) when Joni was introduced to two out of three of Stephen's sisters, and, for the first time, Stephen had the opportunity to see whether or not Joni could or would be able to fit in his family, our fearless couple began the trek back to the city. It was during this dark drive back from Flinders that Stephen, moved to boy-tears, realized, out loud, that Joni was the girl he needed to marry. Mainly because he loved her, but what sealed the deal was how she "just fit" in his world, in his family, and in his life. And so, it would happen that night, and then again each day until they would be parted at Melbourne Airport, that Stephen would say with increasing conviction "I want to marry you. I will ask your father. We will be married.".