~~~

I watched the man. He was taking slow deep breaths and looking out over the ocean. Eventually he turned around and faced the long length of the pier. He stood in what is best described as "parade rest", standing with the feet hip distance apart, arms in a downward "V" and hand over fist. He just stared ahead, motionless.

I saw a pretty girl walk towards him. She was carrying a HUGE bouquet of white roses, and her expression was of bewilderment, as if a stranger had just handed her the flowers and said "walk"---it was clear, though, that she recognized the man in the suit. His statue face finally registered an expression. He was happy.

What happened next, was both fast and also in slow motion.
He didnt move.
She walked all the way to him, a slow glide.
He got down on one knee.
Her eyes became shiny bowls, her hand spread and lifted to her mouth.
He pulled out a black box,
and electric taffy flowed from his eyes to hers...
He asked her to marry him.

She said 'yes'. They embraced. Her heels rose out of her little white flats as she scaled his shoulders in a hug. It was beyond beautiful...it was a moment so pregnant with all that is good that just watching it made me feel like I was made of liquid sparkles.

Oddly, all of the images are blurry until the final embrace...an apt visual metaphor for the moment, two flames in the process of becoming one, a dissolution of boundaries, if only for an instant.