Honorable Groom

Don Walling is my new hero. His story isn't new, but it's new to me.

I stumbled upon Don's heroic tale on MSNBC under the all-too-popular Weddings tab. Long story short, in the midst of his proposal on the pedestrian walkway on the Brooklyn Bridge, Don's engagement ring fell from his grasp and onto the hectic roadway below.

In front of his 2E's and his 2E's parents and siblings, you'd think that a groom in Don's situation would shrug it off, laugh at the absurdity of it all and perhaps cry a little while distracting the throng of onlookers with a shiny object. But Don Walling did what most wouldn't have the balls to do. He somehow managed to climb down onto the lower roadway, dodge traffic and locate the ring without killing himself.

And I thought I had it rough -- keeping the ring hidden in the inner lining of our backpack as we cruised, planed and trained through Europe. Had I -- as 2E's and I stood in that alleyway on the Rue Notre-Seigneur in Brussels -- managed to drop the ring down a sewer or a pipe or any other inconvenient hole in the ground, I may very well have shrugged. Maybe laughed. And then certainly pointed out the shiny metal awning above her head so I could cry a little.