It had been just minutes since I had proposed to my girlfriend, The Penpal. After coming down from the emotional high, we started to discuss the next steps.
When I seized the opportunity to propose, I had completely excluded her parents from the decision process. She told me that she would have to talk to them and get their blessing. I told her that I wanted to talk to my family as well, and we decided that we would not tell everyone else until our parents had been given some time to process the idea.
I immediately called my parents. It was Monday evening in Japan, which meant early morning in central Canada. I managed to catch my dad at home on his way out the door. I asked if both he and my mom were free, but I heard my mom yelling in the background that she was busy getting ready for work, so my dad got to hear the news first. There was silence on his end of the phone for a minute, then he yelled for my mom to come to the phone immediately! Both of them were very excited for us!
After that I had to call my sister, who was still asleep. Before she had a chance to worry about an early call from her brother in Japan I told her the news. This woke her up instantly. Her response was “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! I’m going to have a sister in law!!!”.
The Penpal and I talked for a while, and she went home to break the news to her parents. I asked if she wanted me to come, but she said it might be better if she could explain it to them by herself. She left, and I found myself home alone, bursting with excitement. I felt like I should do something to celebrate, but didn’t know what to do. Not able to come up with any ideas, I decided to walk across the street to 7-11. Near the alcohol section (yes, 7-11 sells alcohol in Japan), I found a bottle of cheap sparkling wine, which was the closest thing to a champagne that they offered. I paid for it and considered telling the cashier my news for some reason.
When I returned home, Palmer was there along with one of his girlfriends. I walked into the living room with my bottle of wine grinning and said “guess what I did”. Palmer tried to read the expression on my face, and then slowly guessed “you got her pregnant?”. I said no, so he guessed “you got engaged?”. I said yes and then opened the cheap sparkling wine for the three of us to share.
I am aware that I am kind of doing things in the wrong order, but too excited to care at the moment 🙂
Drinking in Japan 