This morning,

after viewing Facebook posts by Brian, Maria, Linda, Pia, Thomas, Thomas, Chris, Greg, Virgi (and, yes, I visited yours - sorry, only so much time to mention it- next time), I discovered a video of a proposal gone wrong. The still before I clicked 'play' had all the makings of  one of history's greatest cliches.

A young guy, early twenties, in a mall, pre-Christmas, crowd gathered around, falls to a knee before his girlfriend. He puts a microphone to his mouth, and begins uttering words that makes a Hallmark Card seem like Dostoevsky.

On cue, a trio, two acoustic guitarists and a singer, fall in place behind her. Suddenly, from out of the right frame, a triple Smart Car sized train replete with Engineer and passengers zooms through the frame. The guys is thrown off, stumbles, then recovers, and begins, once again, delivering his Barry Manilow-drenched-I-can't-live-without-you ditty.

The musicians begin to play. The girlfriend, wide-eyed and stuttering, bends down, and attempts to pull the mic from his hands. She pleads with him to stop, but the guy hangs on to the mic, and continues his speech. She lets go of the mic, rights herself up.

There is a long pause through which he continues speaking. She seems to resolve herself to the fact that he will not stop. For a moment, it seems that she will be a good sport, and hear him out, but in a quick instant, she pulls back an open hand, then slaps him across the face.

He falls down. She turns, rushes out of the frame. The crowd gasps. The musicians stop playing. The young man, ass on ground, touches his face, looks up shocked. The world seems to come to a momentary pause.

At first, I thought, good for her, he needed that. Then I thought, what a brat she was. Didn't she realize the length he went to to put everything together? Then I thought, how well did he know this girl - why set himself up for heart break - was he that stupid? Why in a mall? Why at Christmas-time? Why not in a dive after five pitchers of beer and Pasty Cline singing "I Fall to Pieces" on the juke-box? That's how I would have done it. Yes, that's how I did it. Then again, I was twice married and twice divorced. What is love? Why do people act the way they do? It's so confusing. Let me take Pepito for a walk in the woods, and contemplate that. Or... maybe, let's just enjoy the woods, and let people do as they do.