Baby, will you be mine forever?

This is actually the first time I’ve seen someone that I know propose to someone else that I know as well. Usually we just see them in movies, hear about it from our engaged friends or in my case, watch them happen on stage in CFC anniversaries or other conferences. My officemate, Ram, proposed to another officemate, Sheila right here in our floor last Thursday. Ram conspired with Sheila’s lead, Ekky, to stage a Testing team meeting somewhere far from our project’s floor. They went down while Ram nervously prepared for his proposal.

Here’s the plan, and sorry if this is quite IT-inspired/work-related: Since our project is related to websites, Ram asked Tere (part of the Architecture team) to change the homepage of our site in our development server. Instead of the usual Accenture one-liners with its related pictures, Ram changed it to a picture of him sitting (Indian sit) and staring at the open beach while Sheila lays on her back with her head resting on Ram’s thighs (I hope I’m picturing it correctly. Hehe). The photo was taken from the back so what we actually see is Ram’s back and the beautiful ocean scenery. With this image comes a simple line “Baby, will you be mine forever? – Ram” Actually, that text quite overlapped the right navigation of the homepage so they asked me to help out and remove the other text in the right navigation since I know how to manipulate the homepage because of my experience from my previous team. We were able to remove it and everything was set on our part.

A few minutes later, the testing team came back from their meeting. Everybody in our team knew about the proposal except Sheila. I’d say that we are all good actors and actresses for being able to keep it to her and not look suspiciously obvious. Hehe. Anyway, the front was Ekky was going to ask Sheila to do some testing in the development environment and it needed to be done before lunch time (it was already 11:45am then). Ekky was going to IM Sheila the link to the webpage but Sheila needed to clear her browser first of any pre-existing cookies or files. While she was doing that, Ram stood at Sheila’s back pretending to help her and teach her what to do during the testing. Note that during this time, everyone was already standing up and looking at the two from their back. Of course Sheila honestly didn’t notice it because she was quite preoccupied concentrating on all the things she needed to do and Ram was standing at the back so he was covering her view.

When the website loaded, Ram got down to his knees, showed Sheila the diamond engagement ring and asked her to marry him. Even before Ram got to speak, Sheila already lost it when she saw the homepage. She cried and cried and probably didn’t even hear a word Ram said. Hehe. But of course she got it. Sheila said ‘yes.’ They hugged and kissed and the whole project, which is basically the whole floor, clapped their hands in happiness for them.

Wow! That was one heaven of a happy moment! I was able to witness everything because Sheila was sitting just right beside me. No one can get a better view than that! Hehe. I think that for this couple, that was the best way to get engaged. I saw them both coming in to the project as single people (no, I am not older than them; I’ve just been in the project longer than them). Then they became a couple and nurtured their relationship in the context of this team. So I think it was just fitting for Ram to profess his desire to marry Sheila in the office where they met and with the team witnessing it the same way that they have witnessed this couple’s ups, down, struggles and victories.

To Ram and Sheila, congratulations and good luck on your new life together! Enjoy Boracay!