1000 Origami Cranes - Part I

During the months leading up to the proposal, I set myself out a large task. In fact, the task before me was larger than I knew and put me in a very awkward spot.

There were many ideas out there for proposing to somebody, but none of them struck a chord with me. My hope was to stumble upon, or create an idea that would resonate inside me, telling me this was the way to propose. Jeralyn's not the kind of girl that wants "Will you marry me?" on a Jumbotron in front of 40,000 drunken strangers (wait, are we talking about a Padre game), and in the same vein, it has never been her dream to have that question written across the sky in smoke. Basically, any advice you're going to get on the intertubes was steering me in that direction.

I then went through a series of "favorites"...could I cook the ring into some Pasta Carbonara?...could I have Dr. House diagnose her with a terminal case of lovesickness, only to be cured by one of two antidotes; an injection of interferons, or by saying "yes" to JR's proposal...maybe I could hide in a bathtub full of Golden Spoon frozen yogurt and right as she takes her first bite, pop-out with a ring and scare the bejezus out of her? All great ideas, but pretty unreasonable. A more practical idea would be to make like her favorite Children's book, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, and fold 1000 origami cranes.

This came to me around September of 2008, and I planned for a February or March proposal.

1000/180 = 5.5 cranes per day. Perfect! (How the hell do you make half a crane?)

At the time, I had no idea how to make a paper crane. Hell, I didn't even know the paper had to be square. I did quickly learn there aren't too many stores where you come across a reliable and regular source of origami paper. A couple fruitless jaunts to Michael's and Mitsuwa's pushed me online where I purchased 300 sheets.

I stuck to the 5.5 cranes per day schedule for exactly three days, justifying to myself that I could easily do 11 cranes in one day. Well 11 turned into 16.5, 16.5 into 22, and 22 into a shitload of cranes. It was looking like a whole day would be needed to get back on schedule. Fortunately for me I had a wonderful reason to send Jeralyn away for a day and a night; the backyard.

The backyard is a story unto itself. Please feel free to ask any one of JR's "friends" about the debacle.

Under the guise of avoiding noisy jack-hammering, Jeralyn would go to visit her friend Lizzy in Orange County.  Her friend Sarah came over on a Saturday morning and off they went, around 10am.  Cale, my lawyer/labor friend extraordinaire, assisted me in this ruse.  We worked for several hours in the sweltering heat and then called it quits so I could get the folding of cranes.

I quickly learned that even with all the space, time and privacy I needed, folding a thousand cranes was taking a lot longer than I had anticipated.  If I wanted anything that resembled a bird, it was taking me 5 minutes per crane.  I had officially gotten myself in over my head.  At this pace I'd be proposing sometime in the next 2 years.  I needed help.