The First Proposal

It was the fall of 1999 and we were on our way to compete in the Permian Basin Ranch Rodeo in Odessa, Texas.  Somewhere outside of Midland, one of the tires on the trailer we were pulling behind Ed's truck had a blow out.

You can't change a tire on a trailer without first unloading the horses, so there I was holding three horses in the median of Interstate 20 with Ed trying to replace the tire.  Three horses that may or may not get along well.  Cars zipping past us on both sides.  I looked around at the terminally flat desolate horizon.  There were no trees.....nothing green...just shades of grey with giant tumbleweeds dotting the landscape.  It was hopelessly ugly to me. 

Shortly after the jack broke and the whole process became extended, Ed looks over at me grinning.  Without stopping his work, he asks me to marry him.  In the middle of I-20...holding three horses.  This was his first of three proposals he would make.  I told him as long as he promised to never make me live in Midland, Texas...yes, I would marry him.

We finally get to the fairgrounds where the rodeo was held.  Ed's parents drove there to watch their sons compete in the rodeo and meet me for the first time. Big Ed (Ed's dad) sits off quietly to himself to focus on the rodeo and not be distracted by all the chatter.  His mama sits next to me in the stands so she can size up this woman her son is dating.  Getting straight to the point, she asks me if I wear a uniform at work.  I tried to explain that my job at the casino didn't have a uniform but I wore nice clothes, especially when I went to court. She looks at me puzzled as asks, "Court?  Why would the girl who swings on the trapeze and rings the bell with her toes need to go to court?" 

This has to be one of rare times I was ever momentarily speechless.  Whoa.  I do what?  And who told you this?  Ed has a seriously twisted sense of humor which I enjoy when I am not at the center of it.  Over the next couple of hours we separated fact from fiction and I got my first glimpse into Ed's childhood.  Good bonding time with my mother-in-law to be. 

It was a weekend full of firsts...first rodeo I watched Ed compete in, first time to meet his parents, his first proposal.....and...the first time that I heard I swung from a trapeze and rang a bell with my toes.