Love In
Bloom 40 | Feb/March • 2011
Beth & Patrick Oakes Beth Oakes was completely surprised
when her husband Patrick proposed to her on Christmas Day 2004. They went together to celebrate Christmas with his family, where every year the family plays a gift exchange game. That year Patrick was picked to go first and happened to draw the very gift that he had brought. He unwrapped the gift to reveal a big can of ravioli and a can opener. Beth and everyone else took turns drawing numbers and opening gifs but no one wanted to take Patrick’s gift from him. At the end of the game the first person is allowed to take any of the other people’s gifts and give them his. Patrick walked around the room and ended up back at Beth, who had a coffee cup that was filled with chocolates. He took Beth’s gift and gave her his. “I looked at him funny and he told me to read the note on the top of the can,” Beth recalled. It read, “Open this and try a new flavor.” She used the can opener to open the
can. (Patrick had opened the can along the seam, emptied out the ravioli and cleaned the can.) On the inside of the lid he had written “Will you marry me?” and inside the can was an engagement ring. “Of course I immediately said yes and
started crying,” Beth said, noting that one of the best parts of the proposal was having family members present to cheer them on. They were married on December 17,
2005.CV
