WTF Is A Blood Diamond? (Or The Story of How He Proposed)
“The size of the diamond is related to the size of the village you have to destroy to get it.”
-WTF Hubby
I cast him a sideways glance. Our friend looked amused and tried hard to stifle a laugh.
”The diamond is paid for in blood.” WTF Hubby finished.
”Let’s talk about why you’re still holding my ring hostage!”
”I’m not! You can have it any time you want.”
Now it’s my turn to be amused. “Make it romantic.”
”You always want it to be romantic!” he smiled.
Where the lavender is endless - Photo created by elizavetalarionova
What is romantic to you? It really varies, doesn’t it? To me, it’s a stolen moment in the south of France. A private one in the lavender fields, where the air is heavy with floral, sun, and bliss. It feels too much and not enough at the same time, and you’re left drowning in purple as the person you are meant to spend forever with asks you to marry him.
Except no one gets to go to the south of France during Covid. Do you wait for that notion of romance to materialize one day or do you pivot?
Seriously, just pivot. Needless to say, there was no nice time in Nice this summer, but that didn’t stop WTF Hubby from proposing (Good job, hunny! LOL!).
WTF Hubby takes me to a lot of IG-ready places: The Museum of Ice-cream in SF, the Hello Kitty Tour in Bellevue, swimming with the dolphins/ ATV-ing/ zip-lining in the jungles of Cancun, and to many flower fields for those super cute shots. So when this IG-bf, promoted to IG-fiancé, found out there was a lavender field in B.C., we took the drive!
Photo created by dashu83
“You have arrived at Tuscan Farm Gardens.”
Standing within two meters of our parked car, I felt a tickle on the back of my calf. A quarter-sized bump was starting to form and it was only growing by the second. “Um hunny? I think there are mosquitos here.”
He turned towards me. “How do you know?”
I looked down at my calf. “Trust me babe. I know.”
My assertion was further verified when we walked past an array of insect repellents left on the table for guests to use. Due to the recent rainfall, there are mosquitos in the fields. Help yourself to our complimentary insect sprays! As if to punctuate the sign, a mosquito angrily whizzes across my face. Our first line of defence was already looking meek.
I grabbed two bottles and start spraying myself and WTF Hubby down. And you know what? They still got me through my dress! Here I was, channeling my inner Buffy Summers, and slapping mosquitos off myself and WTF Hubby. Crimson streaked across my hand, to which I could only hope was the blood of my future husband and not some garden stranger.
It was a bloodbath!
Proposal at the Tuscan Farms Lavender Fields. You can’t even tell how many mosquitoes have picked a fight with me in this photo.
Tired from the fight, we walked aimlessly towards the distant rows of lavender.
“Here goes!” WTF Hubby proclaimed, as he reached into his pocket for the ring box. He kneeled down. The box opened, and the diamond cuts the light of the southern sun into a million tiny glimmers. Nothing that came out after that was rehearsed. My eyes bugged out of my head. If he had said more, know that I was not processing at the speed of normal speech.
“Will you marry me?” A nervous beat. Then, “You better say yes!”
Guys, even when we tell you that we will say yes, you’ll still be terrified and sadistically, we will find your vulnerability cute. I laughed.
“Yes. Even though you threatened me. Who does that?!”
Outside I was cool like the lavender ice-cream we got to celebrate. Inside I’m rocked to my core with emotions. We ran for the car as the six-legged fiends advanced on us and our disintegrating repellent barrier. Was the barrier even effective in the first place?!
In the car, with my left hand a bit heavier and the ice-cream cone in my right - I heard, “They’re in the car with us!”
“WTF, you’re kidding!!!”
Turned out, we were really good at eating ice-cream and annihilating the ten mosquitoes that made it into the car with us. Ice-cream was fight fuel, and we were ready. Blood smeared on the glass panes and dashboard. More fell until they were no more. A dozen enter the vehicle.
Two remain victorious.
And that’s the thing with relationships, right? If you always believe it should be like the perfect Instagram pictures, you’ll never want to fight for each other when the mosquitoes attack or when things get hard. You’ll just want to run, when what you need to do is stand to fight together.
When we got back to Vancouver, I had around 30 battle wounds that made me itchy and swollen all over. I don’t know how ethically sourced the rock on my finger is, but I can tell you that I fought off a bunch of bloodsuckers the day it called my finger home. Our own blood was lost! Literally, this is the blood diamond of 2020.