Life
Experiences of Bill McDonald
From the Book
"A Spiritual Warrior's Journey"
Christmas Lights and Love
The day I got
engaged was a very special day in my life. I had been waiting to officially ask
Carol to become my wife. I wanted her to say yes, so the timing of when I asked
her was very important to me. I had hinted around before, and she always gave me
negative replies. It was going to take a small miracle to get her to say yes. I
knew I had a long road ahead of me on this one.
Getting her to accept the engagement had me concerned. I knew that I
had to ask her at the right time and in the right place, or it was just not
going to happen. On pure faith, I went down and bought the wedding and
engagement rings. This was my first step toward making it happen. My plan was to
carry the engagement ring with me every time I visited her. This way, if I could
sense the perfect time and place, I would present the ring, kneel down and ask
her to marry me.
I brought the ring with me on that cold night, December 10, 1969,
when I went to her apartment on Twin Peaks in San Francisco. The place had a
view to kill for from the kitchen window, with its panorama of city lights.
I knocked on the door and her roommate, Beverly, let me in. I looked
at Carol who was stringing Christmas tree lights. She glanced at me and said
something about the lights not working. The two of them had been trying to get
them to work all afternoon. No matter what they did—changing bulbs, checking
each individual light over and over—the result was always the same, no lights.
These were the kind of lights that if one bulb was out or not in correctly and
snug, then all the lights on the string did not work. In this case, there were
six strings connected together of 100 lights each. All 600 lights were not
working.
I listened as she explained the problem to me and asked if I thought
I could fix them. I knew this was my perfect time. All I had to do was to zap
the right bulb. When the lights blinked on in all their holiday glory, I would
ask her to marry me! Now, all I had to do was to perform this feat of magic.
I told her that I knew I could fix it, and I would. I stood in front
of the Christmas tree and rubbed my hands together. In my mind I had already
said a small prayer for some divine intervention to help me fix the tree and to
get Carol to say yes. I figured it was just as easy for God to create two
miracles this night as one. I looked Carol right in the eye and said, with all
the confidence I could muster, that I certainly could fix her tree lights.
I reached out and gently touched one lone, little light bulb on one
of the strings of lights. I slightly twisted it, and the entire tree lit up. All
six strings of lights were on and every single bulb was working—all 600 of them!
Her and her roommate's faces glowed as they stood transfixed on this
small miracle of the lights. I turned around, looking as if this were exactly
what I had expected to happen, which I had, and I reached deep into my pocket. I
knew at that moment I was not going to get a better sign that this was the right
time and the right place to ask Carol to be my wife.
I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. She said yes.
Later, she said that if I were really this lucky, she wanted some of that luck
to rub off on her too.
Well, the rest is history. We got married within three weeks and
still remain married today. Now, whenever I see a Christmas tree with its lights
shining brightly, I always remember those miracles, one small and one big on a
cold December night in 1969 when I became the luckiest man alive!
#
Copyright 1998 - W. H. McDonald Jr.
The miracle of lights. December 10, 1969
