Pikake & Pearls: Helen & Randy’s Website

Last night, the Mystery Trip was in full swing. I picked Helen up from Cambridge (she was taking the afternoon off from the International Baroque Institute at Longy), and we drove off to Lenox.

I printed the directions from Google in such a way that there was no indication where we were actually driving to (i.e., there was a page for “Longy to Mass Pike,” but not “Longy to Lenox” — she actually asked me, “Where do we go once we’re on the Mass Pike,” to which I responded, “We go west”).

Hahaha! I was pretty sneaky.

As we got off the Pike at Exit 2, and drove through the small Berkshire towns of Lee and Stockbridge, I could see a small smile on Helen’s face, knowing what lay ahead. The sign for Lenox appeared, and she exclaimed, “I knew it! I knew we were going here!”

Lenox, for those of you who don’t know, is the town that is home to (among other things) Tanglewood, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.

It is at Tanglewood that Helen and I first met, while outside the Koussevitzky Shed, waiting to meet Joshua Bell for an autograph and picture. It is at Tanglewood that we both fell in love with the Boston Symphony and the idea of going to Boston to furthur our studies in classical music. And, it is at Tanglewood, that I decided would be the perfect place to propose to Miss Helen Liu.

Our first stop on the Mystery Trip was at the Yankee Inn, a family-operated boutique hotel off Pittsfield Rd., which connects Lenox and Pittsfield and is also home to a Chinese restaurant called Luau Hale (more on that later).

The looks of the hotel are deceiving. From Pittsfield Rd, the Yankee Inn looks like just about any other moderate roadside motel/inn, with nothing special about it. However, niceties awaited us inside. For our stay, I reserved the hotel’s Fire Spa suite, one of two luxury rooms that has a fireplace and an in-room jacuzzi … instant brownie points for a bumbling Randy!

Ono-kine Grindz … at Pearl’s Restaurant

After settling in, we ironed our dinner clothes and headed out to a restaurant I’d eaten at years before: Pearl’s, in Great Barrington. The slogan at Pearl’s is “Fish, Chops, Steak, & Game,” and we had a little of each over the course of our meal. We started with a negimaki, of sorts, made from locally-raised venison, grilled onions, and leeks. For entrees, Helen had a seared ahi (that she described as “not as good as my dad’s”), and I had a nice pork chop. We didn’t get dessert, but I had planned it that way, because our friend Jenn Turner had suggested we hit Rouge (a Stockbridge eatery) following our evening, for some special desserts.

After Dinner

We took a picture outside Pearl’s, then headed back towards Lenox, to spend the evening on Tanglewood grounds.

At Tanglewood

I had planned to propose to her in the Formal Gardens, behind the Visitor Center, but when we walked through there, all these kids were playing frisbee and hide-and-go-seek! Damn. So I had to mosey our way back towards the Shed, and thankfully found a nice quiet tree we could sit under (actually, closer to the Tanglewood Cafe, then the Shed). But before doing so, I excused myself to the Mens Room, so that I could take the ring out of its outer box, and so that I could set my digital audio recorder on “record” - and place it in my shirt pocket.

Found a nice place to sit!

She wanted to take some pictures, and we did, and as things quieted down (the concert was to start in 10-15 minutes), I decided to get things started.

I pulled some poems I’d written out of my pocket, and started reading them aloud. They were mostly nonsensical poems about animals in human situatons. I admit, I was trying to throw her off. I’ll post the poems in a separate post… I think they make a pretty good example of ‘nonsense fiction’ though.

The last poem I had to read was the real thing, and as I started to read it, I got a little choked up. Helen actually started laughing at me, at the beginning, I think because she didn’t believe it was THE poem.

Anyways, here’s the poem.

If I was yours forever,
Goodbye kisses would be called see you kisses
Because one of those would mean that I’d get to see you again.

If I was yours forever,
Then I’d have time to fold you a zillion-and-one cranes
Which should be about enough practice to make one as elegant
As the one you deserve.

If I was yours forever,
We’d learn to sing in our sleep
So any snoring would become part of the polyphonic texture,
And we’d make music from dusk till dawn.

If I was yours forever,
I would want to carry you on my shoulders,
So that you could be closer to the stars I see in your eyes,
And so the world would know that I want to support you
With all the love, and strength, and courage that I have.

If I was yours forever,
We would travel the world, looking for cozy nooks and ono foods,
And places we could keep to ourselves
That no one else would know about,
That would be ours to cherish and explore,
And be home to our love for each other.

But before I can be yours forever,
And you forever mine,
I must ask a simple question:
Will you tell me your birthstone?

Your birthstone is the pearl,
So radiant and white,
And the ring I have to present to you
Was hand-picked with care and might.

It’s a rare and natural beauty, just like you,
And from a Polynesian paradise, just like me.
They say that, “diamonds are forever,”
So that must mean, six diamonds is a pretty long time.

So If you’ll take me in your heart as yours,
If you’ll let me carry you to distant shores,
And if you’ll love me forever, as I love you,
Then I just have to ask:
Miss Helen Liu, will you marry me?

My favorite part of it though, is when she replied with a soft ‘yes,’ followed by an “Of course I will!”

Yippee!!