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| Mural by Joel Bergner in London's Leake Street Tunnel |
The Story:
The day before The Day, he had told me that he had been invited to lead an art workshop with children all day, and so he left at the crack of dawn to return home around 6ish. Normal.
The next day (The Day) we were to go to a show. On the way to said show, which was in the Waterloo area of London, we passed the entrance to Leake Street which is an authorised graffiti area where the street artist Banksy had curated a street art show a few years ago. I mentioned to Joel that it was famous and that I'd show him one day. He replied that we had time, so why not go now. As we walked down into the tunnel, my eyes adjusted to the light and began scanning the walls hoping to spot a Banksy. Instead my eyes locked on...my eyes. I noticed something that was undoubtedly Joel's style and as we neared it, he said "Oh look! That one has your name." I walked closer and the words became clearer:
"CJ*, Will You Marry Me?"
As soon as I read the message, my eyes filled with tears and I became completely unable to speak. He took both my hands and lead me closer to the mural so that I could see all the details: a cow in a stew to represent the name of the bar we met in ("Vaca Atolada" in Portuguese - "the stuck cow" - which is a typical beef dish); the samba shoes on its feet to represent my two samba schools in London and in Rio; the bee to represent the character I played in a musical we both worked on in Washington DC in the summer (which you can watch here); San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge and redwood forest; the Staten Island ferry; our favourite carnaval outfits (wig, sunglasses and moustaches); Big Ben... I was speechless but I had noticed that he had disappeared. A tug on my hand indicated me to look down where I saw him there on one knee, offering me a ring made with his great grandmother's diamonds. Through my tears and snot, I cried, nodded and laughed a "yes" at him, and forced that beautiful ring onto my finger where it nestled snugly against my skin like it was meant to be there all along.
Later that evening, he took me to dinner to celebrate with my family and I walked down the stairs in the restaurant to find A MASSIVE GROUP OF MY FRIENDS THERE! Friends who I had been texting and whatsapping the news to, who had actually been there giggling with my sister and waiting for my arrival so they could show the ring to the bar staff! Two of my dearest friends had even arrived with their 6 week old beautiful baby who completely stole my thunder.
If you had told me two years ago, when I wrote my first piece that I would find such celebrated love, I might have sniffed cynically at you. So I'm writing this now so that in 2, 5, 17, 26 years, I can look back and remember that I got to experience something so otherwordly beautiful and thoughtful and amazing. And so that down the line, in our bad times, I can look back at this time when we were so in love and hopeful and happy. It might seem old fashioned or outdated to some, but I want to believe that marriage works as a way to unite two people as a legal team. I've always been good at teamwork, so this works out well for me.
Karla x
*CJ is my birth given nickname used by family and friends DESPITE the fact that Karla is spelled with a K and I will cut off your fingers if you try to spell it any other way.
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