Early in the week, I asked if Cora would like to take a bike ride down the lakeshore and visit the Art Institute the coming weekend. We had just bought new bikes that spring due to a mishap with my storage of the bikes over the winter. Who knew, salt and bikes don’t mix?
Cora was ecstatic because she got to take me to get cultured but moreso because I would never have suggested a longer bike ride like that with my old bike. So, now that we both had nice new shiny matching Schwinn hybrids, we could pedal our way together on more relaxing journeys together.
The Saturday of the bike ride was excruciatingly hot. We stopped for some breeze about half way and then pushed on to the museum. The museum was great, I think it was the first time I got to see American Gothic. As we were leaving, I told Cora I didn’t want to go back to the bikes just yet and suggested we walk around in the Lurie Garden. We found a spot up against the hedge wall in a quiet area. The only other group of people were some girls getting their picture taken in their Quinceañera dresses. It was really hot to be wearing a ruffled, formal Quinceanera dress.
Cora sat down on the bench in the shade. I promptly said, “I’m going to need you to stand up for this.” Getting down on one knee, I pulled out the ring that I had been carrying in my wallet the whole day (you can’t conceal a ring box in your shorts).
I told her how happy she makes me, how much I love her and asked if she would like to spend the rest of her life with me. I can’t remember exactly what I said, it was all a blur, I was very nervous. I didn’t actually have anything rehearsed, I just knew I wanted to speak from the heart. Cora says she didn’t hear anything I said either as she was too excited. She agreed to marry me, we laughed and then proceeded to take some selfies. We sat there a while enjoying the first moments of our engagement and looking out at the garden from the shade of our bench.
On the bike ride back home we stopped along the way to get fruity ice treats. It’s a cone of ice, drizzled with fruit syrup and then topped with cut up fruit. We sat and ate our yummy deliciousness and started to call and text family the news. It was nice to sit in the sun, newly engaged, getting a huge sugar buzz, watching the people, listening to the waves in Chicago.
Cora Hays-Magan & Nick Fedesna