Happy Leap Year Day!
Today is the one day every four years when a woman can propose. Sadly... when a colleague asked yesterday who my intended lucky fella would be today... I drew a blank.
And then the wheels started spinning.
So my newfound goal for today is to propose to as many single guys as possible. Y'know, just because I can. Hopefully I'll be married by the time Leap Day rolls around again in 2016 -- don't want to squander this once-in-four-years opportunity, right?
And according to Wikipedia, I'm up for some fun compensation if the men say no:
- Supposedly, a 1288 law by Queen Margaret of Scotland (then age five and living in Norway), required that fines be levied if a marriage proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to £1 to a silk gown, in order to soften the blow.
- In Denmark, the tradition is that women may propose on the bissextile leap day, February 24, and that refusal must be compensated with 12 pairs of gloves.
- In Finland, the tradition is that if a man refuses a woman's proposal on leap day, he should buy her the fabrics for a skirt.
Really, the only ROI I'm hoping for are some fun laughs with my guy friends. My last engagement was pretty fun, after all. Here's hoping my intended fiances will know I'm not actually being serious or coming onto them... otherwise that could get awk-ward, and we all know how much I loooooove awkwardness...
{UPDATE: Well, I succeeded in my proposals -- in that I got a lot of laughs and no actual engagements. Which is what I was going for, after all. Most amusing dialogue on my Facebook in a while. But talk about a bonus: two of my intended fiances actually asked me on dates! Granted, they live in other states, but I should be able to help them make good on their promises by summer's end. Score!}
