Wiebke and Paul

Wiebke’s Story April 10, 2006

Love comes unexpectedly.. After years of desperately searching for Mr. Right and spending some time with a few Mr. Right Now’s, I have finally decided NOT to go looking for him anymore. I stood up and told myself to be happy with only myself and enjoy life.

Friends, family, tv shows, self-help books–everyone told me to be patient and just wait. And then, one day, it just happens.. naturally.. and it will be amazing.

Yeah, right. You are in your end twenties, you have been single for a couple of years, you suffered from heartbreak too often and your friends–happily married, engaged or in a serious relationship–keep encouraging you that your Prince Charming will be knocking at your door one day, do you believe it?

Let me tell you: it can happen. Maybe just like this:

The Show.

Paul and I met at a show on March 4th, 2006. Some friends and I went to see one of my favorite Bay Area bands play at Hotel Utah. Heathrow (www.heathrowmusic.com) would continue to play (literally) a major part in our story.

I saw Paul for the first time when he was chatting with my friends Minjia and Will. Wie sich spaeter herausstellte, hatte er mich bereits eine ganze Weile im Auge gehabt und darueber geraetselt, wie er mich denn nun am Besten anreden koennte. Da hat er einfach meine Freunde angesprochen und so getan, als haette er mich gar nicht bemerkt. Ts, ts.

Wir hatten uns sofort eine ganze Menge zu erzaehlen. Und, er gefiel mir. Rein zufaellig schlug Mick dann spaeter vor, noch irgendwo etwas essen zu gehen. Joe, der Vierte im Bunde, wurde uebrigens sehr unsanft aus dem Auto befoerdert und nicht in die weitere Abendplanung einbezogen. Wie gemein. Tatsache war, dass Mick da so einen Plan hatte, der nur Paul und mich einbezog…der Fuchs wollte uns verkuppeln. Ich wuerde mal behaupten, dass er damit ziemlich erfolgreich war.

Bevor Mick mich zuhause absetzte, hatte Paul noch dafuer gesorgt, dass sich ein paar andere mit mir fuer den naechsten Tag zum Lunch in Mick’s Cafe verabredet hatten. Paul hatte seine Freunde gebeten, mich daran zu erinnern, auf alle Faelle am naechsten Tag vorbeizukommen. Er wollte mich nicht fragen, weil er dachte, das sei zu offensichtlich. Ha, wenn er gewusst haette…dennoch hatte er mir seine business card gebeben, fuer den Fall, dass ich das Cafe nicht finden wuerde. Na klar.

Am Sonntag rief ich ihn dann tatsaechlich an, um sicherzugehen, dass er auch tatsaechlich noch im Cafe war. Hm, genau.

An jenem Sonntag goss es in Stroemen.

The Lunch.

The following day, I had plans to meet Paul, Joy, Mick and Roland at the cafe. I called Paul to tell him that I was on my way. Since I had to take the bus all the way from the Marina to Potrero Hill, I had to make sure that he was still at the cafe. Although, I didn’t realize it immediately, I was getting nervious about seeing him again.

Again, it was raining cats and dogs. Paul offered to give me a ride. Yup, I was getting more and more anxious to see him again. A few minutes later, he called me to suggest that we should stay in the Marina (where I live) and just grab lunch somewhere nearby. The rain would be too strong to get on his bike together.

Being absolutely aware of my awesome cooking skills, I invited him over for lunch at my place. We had a great time and totally hit it off. It felt like I knew him forever.

The Accident.

I was supposed to meet my friend Mette in Oakland later that night. Paul offered me a ride to the Bart station (didn’t we first decide not to get on the bike since it was too dangerous?) but we didn’t make it the whole way there.

When changing lanes, the wheels of Paul’s bike got caught in the streetcar rails on Market street and the bike slipped. I found myself lying in the pouring rain not being able to get up. Paul and the bike slid a little further.
I ended up in the hospital and Paul’s bike had to be town. While I was hanging out at the emergency room at SF General Hospital, Paul tried to get to the hospital as soon as possible but had to wait on the police report and tow truck. It was the longest 4 hours in my life, it seemed. Warning: the tacky story continues - the minute, Paul walked into my room that night, I knew I was in trouble. My heart was racing and I was so relieved to finally see his lovely face. Suddenly, I felt safe and my knees and hip didn’t hurt as much any more.
Mette, Paul and I finally left the hospital and had a good time hanging out and eating pizza at my place. I missed a few days of work and have been on crutches for a while; Paul has been walking all around SF with a knee that wanted him at home.

Our Engagement.

In the middle of the pouring rain (again), Paul popped THE question on April 16. Actually, it was in the night from Saturday to Easter Sunday.

And again, our friend Mick’s band Heathrow was somehow involved. We were on our way home from their show at Slims and he asked me if I would mind if he took me to a special place. I would be lying if I said I didn’t know what was going to happen. But I was nervous as hell.

We headed out to Crissy Fields, the area under the Golden Gate Bridge. I am not sure what I was more anxious about: getting into another motorcycle accident on the wet and slippery road or Paul’s soon-to-come proposal. My heart was racing.

By the time, we got off the bike, the rain was coming down in sheets. Paul said it was appropriate to be soaken wet because this is how we fell in love with each other when we came off the bike on Market Street six weeks ago. My poor heart was about to jump out of my chest when he got down on his knees (right in the puddle in front of him) and asked me: Wiebke, will you marry me? Now, the interactive part of this story: figure my response. And add a little bit of crying.

Overall, there was a lot of water surrounding us: the rain, my tears, the ocean. Although, I wanted to indulge in this moment for a while, we had to get out of the rain. Besides, I needed to tell my Mom about this beautiful ring on my left hand. Click the link Our photos to see what a wonderful piece of jewelry my fiancé had picked.

We got home shortly after 1am. The perfect time to call home. Mom & Udo welcomed Paul to our family. And that finally made him cry. Just a little bit.

Before calling it a night, we celebrated our official promise to each other in style: with chicken legs (leftovers from our Saturday Easter brunch) and Summer Anchor Steam.

The next morning was barely ideal: Instead of a long, extensive, romantic Sunday breakfast, we had to get up at 5am to get ready for the big Easter picnic our church was hosting for our community.

We finally celebrated our engagement in style on Sunday night: with Sushi and Champagne.

It has now been three days ago that Paul put that ring on my finger. I can’t stop looking at it. Today, my work friends found out about the big news. It took them less than 30 minutes to arrange a big team lunch for Friday to celebrate. Sweet.