Gardens of the World, Berlin, May 2024A very long four seconds
Felix had been to the Gardens of the World before, and spent our whole visit steering us towards the Japanese Garden. It was the best part, he said. Repeatedly.
We got there and, honestly, it looked fairly plain next to everything else we had just walked through. And then Stan saw the sign hanging under the tea house. Will you marry me? Red balloons. A paper heart.
What followed, inside Stan's head and over roughly four seconds, was: so that is why he was so insistent about the Japanese Garden — followed immediately by, it is far too early for this, what on earth do I say.
He was still working on an answer when he noticed a man standing to one side, visibly nervous, watching the entrance for somebody who was not us. The decorations belonged to a complete stranger.
We laughed about it for the rest of the day, once Stan admitted what he had been thinking. Felix took a photograph of him standing under someone else's proposal. Then we went home and forgot about it.
Home, July 2026The question that was
Two years later we came back from a holiday in southern Africa — long flights, too much luggage, the usual state. While we were away, Darima and Silvio had been into our flat and set up the decorations.
Felix got to the door first. Stan was still a minute behind him on the stairs, which meant that by the time he came in, Felix was already down on one knee in the hallway, holding an album.
Strung across the hall above him was the same question. Not a coincidence. He had been carrying the idea around for two years, waiting for the right moment to hand it back.
Inside were photographs of everything from our first date onwards, each one captioned in Felix's handwriting. He had put it together in the weeks before we travelled. Felix still jokes it would have been easier to just get a ring.
The answer was yes
Though if you want to be precise about it, the answer was yes, followed by lots of emotions, some crying and eventually a proper celebratory dance to Bangaranga. (Have you heard that Bulgaria won Eurovision?)
Felix also gave Stan a second album. Empty.
That one is for whatever happens next, which at the time of writing includes a wedding.
The album
So here it is, more or less: the one Felix filled had 200 pics, so here a small selection. Every caption below is his, from the first Christmas market to the last trip before we got engaged, and then a few pages that have gone into the empty album since.
