I'm finally learning that this is still true, even now.
Today I suppose I'm just in a happy place. Despite all the struggles I've had to deal with, I find myself feeling happy a lot lately. I imagine that Lan is largely responsible for that.
It was tough to see him dealing with the death of his parents. That terrible day was more than a year ago now. He's been so strong.
He has always had this ability to brighten other sims' days without even trying. He just has the best outlook on life. I know that his parents' deaths tested his optimism, but over the last year he has gradually come back to himself. I catch him smiling more often these days. Honestly I don't know how he stays so cheerful, but I'm thankful he does. It rubs off on me a bit.
We held off on making any plans for getting married or living together even after his parents died. He doesn't have anything tying him to his shelter now, but I continued hoping that my mom would come to live with me. That still hasn't happened. And as more time passes I think more and more about the possibility of Lan moving in and us building a life together. I still have his promise ring, but we haven't specifically talked about marriage since The Disaster. We had more pressing concerns, but lately I've been thinking about it.
We've been getting to spend more time with each other lately. He has even planned a few romantic evenings. A walk along the gorge. Cuddling while we gaze up at the stars. One evening he sang off-key and waltzed me around my shelter.
Tonight I'm going to surprise him. I had almost forgotten about the instant film camera I found shortly after The Disaster. For the longest time I had no one and no reason to take any pictures. I don't really even know why I kept it or the film. But tonight we're going to try it out...
When we stop to rest Lan tells me one of the cheesiest jokes I've ever heard. He says, "Why did the belt get locked up?"
"I don't know. Why?" I ask, playing along.
"He held up a pair of pants." He says it so seriously, that I can't help laughing. It's just so ridiculous. Here we are, in the apocalypse, taking a romantic evening stroll, and my boyfriend is cracking school yard jokes. Soon I'm clutching my sides from laughing so hard at how preposterous a moment this is.
"Hey now!" he says, pretended to be offended, "Are you laughing with me or at me?"
"Neither," I gasp. "It's just been so long since I've really laughed. Once I got started I just couldn't stop. It feels pretty amazing."
"Glad to be of assistance." Now Lan is laughing too, probably because I look and sound so absurd.
"I love you, Goofball." I tell him.
"Love you too, Giggles." He says.
I feel so lighthearted... so happy... that I spontaneously drop down on one knee.
"You're answering my question with more questions?" I laugh.
"Sorry, how could I be so careless?" Lan slides the ring back onto my finger. "Of course I'll marry you, beautiful silly woman."
"Don't worry, you did originally, remember?" I say reminding him of when he first gave me the ring.
"Oh... that's right. Now I feel better. I'll see about getting us a marriage license on my next day off."
This was one of the happiest days of my life, apocalypse and all.