"Fiancé" Is French For "Soon The Legal Entities Of Our Land Will Know That We Plan To Do Nice Things To Each Other Forever And Ever."

And so it happened, on a chilly February night in the year Naughty-Nine, in a tastefully decorated nest of art, humor, philosophy, carnal pleasure, and cat hair located in the 3rd Borough of New York City in the great L'Etats Unis, only a few minutes into a chapter by that internationally celebrated observer of romantic love, Judy Blume, (ahem) in said time and place I confused the hell out of my true love by interrupting her reading Fudge-a-mania to me, leaping out of bed, teary-eyed, digging out a guitar case from its place underneath the bed frame, pulling out a simple silver band, and proposing that she and I spend the rest of our lives together.

My love accepted.

So as of 11:45-ish PM, EST, on February 18th, I am engaged to be married to the very woman for whom I have been patiently waiting the better part of three decades, and who, in sixteen unbelievable months, has made those three decades seem truly worth it.

Oh, don't go jumping to conclusions; it's not all sweetness and light. My cheeks hurt something fierce from all the smiling. No pain, no gain though, right?

The circles represent eternity. The threaded rod and the nut--each perfectly sized for the other; the rod strong and stiff; the nut ready to have the rod slowly but firmly screwed into it--represent, um, why eternity is going to be pretty fun.