true life love story needs help

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I had an idea this morning that I need a little help on. So let me know what you think. This may get lengthy before its all said and done.

I’ve been dating a woman for about 8 months. I’m pretty sure that she is the one for me. But right now we live about 300 miles apart. We see each other about every 2-3 weeks for a long weekend. We spend alot of time on the phone. Once we finish college (her first time, my second) its likely we’ll move somewhere together. These are vague plans seeing as they are still at least 2 years away, but plans nonetheless.

She deals with depression from time to time. The distance between us does not help matters much. She called me a few days ago and was very upset. She was frustrated with alot of things, not the least of which being that we’re so far apart. After talking awhile she felt better. I felt a little helpless that I couldn’t be there for her.

So this morning I started fiddling with the idea of buying her some sort of trinket that lets her know I’m always thinking about her even though I can’t be with her. I happened across this Threadless tshirt. When I saw the happiness key I thought that would be a good small trinket that I can give her. I could find an antique key pretty easily. The plan was to take that to her the next time I visit.

Now I’m a cheesy sappy guy, but she loves it. You, however, may not. You might gag a little, you’ve been warned

I would explain to her that this is her happiness key. When she was feeling sad she could hold it and think of the good times we’ve had as well as the great times ahead of us. Maybe it would help her through her sadder times and she would know I was thinking about her.

So I start looking on Ebay and I find that not only do they sell antique keys, they also sell antique locks with antique keys. So she would have a key that she thinks has only sentimental purposes. I would have a lock for that key that she wouldn’t know about.

In a few years, if things go as well as I hope they will, I’ll somehow propose to her with this lock and her key. This is my way of telling her, “I’ve wanted to marry you since I gave you this key, X years ago.”

So I came here to see if the great minds of the SDMB could help me improve on this. Specifically:

  1. What can I say to her to make sure this key is never lost or tossed aside. I want her to attach alot of importance to this key. I think telling her why I bought it in the first place goes a long way. Any ideas beyond that?

  2. If you were me, how would you propose? I picture this like a scene out of a movie that her ‘Happiness Key’ is her actual key to happiness, which is, of course, spending the rest of her life with me. :wink: I’m sure some of you are more creative than me, I need some good ideas here.

  3. Am I ripping this idea from some movie or book? Because I’m pretty proud of what I’ve come up with so far and I’d like to think its fairly original.

2

I don’t know if you were going to do anything with the lock other than show it to her, but I totally think you should find a small chest to put the ring in and use the lock on that.

3

Yeah, good plan. Maybe you can start off by locking a nice but not terribly expensive promise ring or something like that (because, well, it does seem premature to shell out for an engagement ring at this stage) in the chest for now, tell you have something special in there that you want to give her when the time is right, then have her unlock the chest on your first anniversary, next Christmas, something like that. Then when you do it again with the engagement ring later on down the road it will have extra meaning from the anniversary connection.
I think it’s a cute idea. I’d totally love it if a guy did that for me. :slight_smile:

4

If you found an ornate key, you could put it on a chain so she could wear it.

And I like sappy love stories!

5

I empathize with you. I have been living at the other end of the country from my wife for 1.5 years. It is amazingly frustrating. Sometimes we have bad days, and there is nothing we can do to comfort one another. One thing we did was have a cell phone plan so that we could call one another without using up minutes. I talked to her for several hours a day.

Thankfully, in 1.5 weeks all this nonsense will be over. Releif is in sight. yay

6

I think it will be awhile before I’m able to propose. I don’t need to buy a ring at this point. When I think about a chest that would fit this lock, it seems like its a little larger than would be practical. The lock should ship this week. I’m hoping the shackle is small enough to fit a ring around. If that works, then there will still be something to unlock without needing to find a large chest to hold a small ring. I do like your idea of reusing the lock.

7

Don’t mean to be a party pooper, but what DOES happen if she loses it?

8

Call out Cupid’s Locksmith?

9

Very sappy, indeed. I love it! I’d cry for sure. I’d have to work a “key to my heart” thing into the proposal. It’s a great idea.

10

I found a lock with 2 keys. I’m keeping one so that I’ll be able to unlock this lock when I use it someday, but it may become the replacement key. I spent more money than I intended when I started looking. There were many locks to be had for about 20-30 bucks. I wanted authentic and not a reproduction. I wanted two working keys. They key’s had to look old enough to appear useless and antique, a modern looking key with a specific cut would be a dead giveaway that it had a purpose other than a metaphor. The skeleton keys I ended up with look useless enough. The link for the lock in my first post is the actual lock I bought.

11

I like the idea of a chain or ribbon for the key, so it can be worn as jewellery (or hung as a decoration). I think she will love having something that shows you were thinking of her. Guys sometimes don’t realize how little they have to do to impress women; buy me my favourite chocolate bar on your way home from work, and you’re golden for a week. :cool: We sort of assume when we’re not with our guys, they aren’t thinking of us, so when you show us that you do think of us, it goes a long way.

12

When and if you two ever are together, the two keys and the antique lock would make very nice elements in a shadowbox/pictureboard to frame and hang in your home…

just a thought
FML

13

Another nice idea - although the key idea totally rocks - is what I did for my SO when we were miles apart before he hauled ass across the state to live with me. I wrote a list of ten things I wanted to do with him and whenever we were together for a weekend, I’d ask him to pick one. The list went something like this:
I want to read a book to you
I want to spend a day in our pyjamas watching favourite DVDs
I want to do a jigsaw puzzle with you on a rainy day
I want to lay in fallow field and look at the stars
I want to swim naked with you at midnight
I want to choose a pet with you
I want to give you a sensual massage by candlelight
I want to ‘rug up’ and watch waves crash onto the rocks with you
I want to watch a sunset with you
I want to cook an outrageous dish with you
Or I think it went something like that. He drags it out every so often and we pick another thing, and he’s given me a list as well. We add to the lists and now that we’ve been together for a while, the ‘I wants’ have become bizarre and funny like “I want to re-enact the dance scene from Pulp Fiction”. Love the key idea.

14

Very cute story. I’ve got nothing to add, but I do want to say: “Good luck. We’re all counting on you.”

15

I’m getting cuteness overload. In a good way.

16

Don’t worry how big the chest is that fits the lock. You can still use it for the proposal with the ring in a box inside it nestled among photos of the pair of you, written accounts of your weekends together, letters to her, books you think she’ll like, satin pillowcases, a silk scarf, anything she has sent you, birthday cards, christmas cards - anything sentimental.

In fact buy a nice journal and write a couple of pages about each time you get together. Date each entry and be schmaltzy. If you don’t want to write a lot buy a smaller book (the remade 1920s moleskins are nice). Print out this thread and stick it in the book. You get the idea.

17

If that is the Airplane reference I think it is, then I love you for it.

18

I like the way you’re thinking. A moleskin is a promising idea. A few months ago she lost her grandmother. We spent alot of time looking at her grandmother’s love letters to her first and second husband. They were both WWII vets, the first dying in the war. The second surviving it, coming home, and growing old with her. It was great to see another side to an admittedly crochety old lady. If I had a moleskin to write in now, I’d have proof that I once had a softer side for when I’m old and yelling at the neighborhood kids to GET OFF MY LAWN!

19

You’re gonna want to get on that - the day when you’re yelling at neighbourhood kids comes sooner than you think. :smiley: