NBA: Arenas 'Expected to Be Wed' "My Girlfriend Proposed to Me"

Shroopy2 · Sep 30, 2008

Seems like he's always one to complicate things. Humorous story on NBA.com

[http://my.nba.com/thread.jspa?threadID=5700021733
You all want to hear about the big moment, huh?

It started off as a surprise birthday party for my girlfriend, Laura.

The party was on the 20th and her birthday is on the 21st. To set up the surprise party, I had to figure out how to surprise somebody who wants a surprise party? I mean, how do you do that?

Basically, you start off with a whole bunch of lies. That’s how you do it.

I called all of her family and told them I’m throwing a surprise party and I said that it might be an engagement party too, so don’t say anything. Nobody wants to slip up and leak an engagement, so I figured everybody would keep their mouth shut about the party.

But, as it always goes, if you tell enough people that somewhere down the line there’s going to be a slip up. During the month of September a couple people called up Laura and said, “Oh, I’m so sorry, I can’t make it to your party.” Laura was like, “What are you talking about?”

So, of course, she started asking questions. She started asking me and her friends and family what we were doing for her birthday. We came up with something to tell her that wasn’t a lie, but it was sort of a lie.

We told her that she was going to meet Obama.

It wasn’t a lie actually, because Laura didn’t know about it, but I was actually invited to have dinner with Obama down in Miami on Friday, September 19 but it got cancelled.

I told her that we would go down to Miami on Thursday, have dinner with Obama on Saturday and then fly to the Bahamas on Monday. That was the plan. That’s what I told people close to me to tell her to throw her off the trail.

So once she found out she was going to meet Obama we made sure to get her a new dress and had people come out and fit her for her clothes.

Now, meanwhile, I got my surgery on Tuesday so I used that as an excuse of why I couldn’t fly down to Miami with her on Thursday. I told her that I was going to go see the doctors, I was going to check out my knee and see how it is and then I’d fly down to Miami to meet her on Friday morning.

So Friday morning came and she was calling me but I didn’t answer my phone, I didn’t answer my phone, I didn’t answer my phone because I was taking care of last minute party arrangements. Finally I answered and she asked me what time my flight was and I said I was supposed to be at the airport around three o’clock, but I was supposed to see the doctor at 2 p.m.

I got her brother in on the act, too. I told her that I kept calling him to get a ride to the airport because I couldn’t drive myself because of my knee but that he didn’t answer until four o’clock. So, I missed my first (fake) flight and missed my first (fake) doctor’s appointment. The story continued that her brother took me to the doctor at four and I rescheduled my flight to 6 p.m., the last flight of the day down to Miami. I bought myself more time to continue party planning by saying that I was at the doctor until 6:30, so I would have to take the first flight down to Miami on Saturday morning.

So now it’s Saturday morning and Laura is calling me again, and I don’t pick up my phone. I’m busy taking care of all her friends and family that are arriving to D.C. for the surprise party. So, the party is starting at four and we had to figure out a way to get her back from Miami and to the house by around 5 p.m. But, at the same time, we didn’t want her getting mad that I didn’t come down to Miami and upsetting her and ruining the whole thing.

I kept my phone off in the morning, pretending like I was on the flight down there already. I was really looking up what times flights were going from Miami back up to D.C. There was one at 2 p.m. that would be perfect. She would get to the airport around four o’clock and be at the house by five.

So, at 11 a.m. I had her brother call her and tell her that I fell and I hurt my knee and that I was at the doctor’s office and in a lot of pain so she needed to hurry up and come back home. She was panicking and booked the 2 p.m. flight back to D.C. Her brother told her that he was going to take me back to the house after I see the doctor and would take care of me so she should take a cab from the airport when she arrives.

Meanwhile, the party was kicking off. It was like a wedding. Of course, we had ice sculptures. We had an ice bar. We had one of those jumpy things, a Moon Bounce, in the back for the kids. We had the pool open. We had a D.J. We had a chef preparing great food. There was salmon and other things for lunch from 4-7 p.m. and then dinner was at 9 p.m.

It was the first day I was off crutches, I was walking, everybody was having fun.

So 5 p.m. came and went and she wasn’t at the house yet. I’m thinking, “Where is she?” I called her and pretended like I was on meds:

(Real weak sounding) “Hellooooooo. What are you dooooooing?”

“I’m on my way, you all right?”

“Yeahhhh, but I’m hurting though. Where are you atttt?”

She’s like, “I’m right by the gas station, I’m like 10 seconds away from the house.”

So I’m thinking, “God dang it, she’s on the way.” So I put the phone on mute and I’m like, “Everyone! Hide in the garage! She’s coming!”

As soon as the cab pulled up everybody burst out of the garage, “Surprise!!!” and she just burst down crying in the car. This was the first time all of her family and my family had shown up at the same time. All her friends, all my friends, we were all together in the same place.

Right before dinner I was thinking about how I was going to propose. Everybody wants to make it memorable, but I have this statistic that I’ve never, ever asked a girl out and I didn’t want to change that. Never, ever. In life. I was like, man, I got to keep this streak going.

I was thinking up ways to do it, you know, maybe I’ll do like an Easter egg hunt for the ring or something. But then it came to me, I was going to kick it back old school with a “Do you like me?” note that you would do in elementary school. Only, I couldn’t write the note, because that would be like me asking her. So I got my friend to write on a piece of paper “WILL YOU MARRY ME?” in big block letters with two boxes to check off, “YES” or “NO.” Then the final step was for him to write “(READ OUT LOUD)” at the top of the note.

The note. The ring. The future bride.
Image courtesy of Gilbert Arenas
I folded it up and had it in my pocket. So there we are at dinner and all her family is there, my dad, her dad, her friends, my friends, Antawn Jamison showed up, Mos Def and a couple people from Mos Def’s crew showed up. At the end of the meal, in front of everybody, I tell her that I have one last gift for her. I told her, “This is my gift” and I handed her the note and I sit down.

She opens the note and she reads it and she says, “Read out loud,” but sort of to herself under her breath because you know, you’re always going to read something to yourself before you blurt it out to the room. Then she reads silently, “Will you marry me?”

Then she flipped the note over to see if there was anything written on the back and then looked at me weird.

I said to her, “You have to read it out loud.”

So she goes, “WILL YOU MARRY ME?” out loud so everybody could hear her.

It worked. It turns out she ended up asking me to marry her.

I was like, “Oh my God!!!” and started screaming like the girl who gets asked normally does.

“I can’t believe you asked me!!!! Of course I will!!! Oh my God, it’s been six long years, what took you so long???!!!??? Oh my God!!! This is unbelievable!!!!”

Everyone started cracking up and laughing. But we still had the ring to take care of.

It’s not like I had it and was going to get down on one knee because first of all, I only have one good knee as it is, and second of all, she’s the one who asked me.

But, I had to produce the ring. I had three Ring Pops ready with three plastic red Solo cups covering them up. I took her over to the cups and told her that whichever one she picks, that’s going to be her engagement ring.

So she flips over one and it’s a cherry Ring Pop. She goes for the second one, it’s a grape Ring Pop. She flips over the third one, it’s watermelon.

She’s looking at me like, “Where’s the real ring?!” but I just go, “Hey, no ring gets any better than that!”

Everybody was laughing.

But I had really given the ring to my son. So I go, “Give it to mommy,” and my son actually gave the ring to her.

So, for the record, she asked me.

What Does My Dad Think?
My dad loves it. He preaches that every relationship that’s real, you go through ups and downs. If you’re in a relationship and it’s all good right now and you guys are getting married and stuff like that, that’s not a real relationship.

A real relationship is when you’ve been through the hard times and you know what the good looks like and you know what the ugly looks like. That’s a strong relationship because if you can last through that, then there’s nothing you can’t last through.

That’s how I looked at it. I’ve done kicked her out of my house almost every weekend, yet she’s still here and she still believes in me. She must be the one.

When Is the Wedding Date?
This is a man law.

The man law has been passed on by men regarding engagement and I just found out about it: You should prolong your engagement as long as you can.

I thought it was because the men were scared to get married. No. That’s not it. It’s because of life in the bedroom disappearing once you get married. Married men don’t have that, so they figure the longer you can stay engaged, there’s more love.

So, I’ll probably set the wedding date for 2027. I figure by then, I’m not going to be focused on the bedroom anymore.
Click to expand...

RudyTBag · Sep 30, 2008

That's way, way funny.

Funny dude that Gilbert........

Yao_Mac · Sep 30, 2008

lol this is funny stuff

ferrari77 · Sep 30, 2008

This dude is so silly. Only he would do all that stuff. funny ish.

DcProWLer277 · Sep 30, 2008

Hope his knee can take the pounding...

tinywang · Sep 30, 2008

she proposed to his $110 million

aussie rocket · Sep 30, 2008

I really feel for Gil - By GAR I HATE IT when girls throw themselves at me with marriage proposals.

ayears · Oct 1, 2008

Shroopy2 said:

My dad loves it. He preaches that every relationship that’s real, you go through ups and downs. If you’re in a relationship and it’s all good right now and you guys are getting married and stuff like that, that’s not a real relationship.

A real relationship is when you’ve been through the hard times and you know what the good looks like and you know what the ugly looks like. That’s a strong relationship because if you can last through that, then there’s nothing you can’t last through.
Click to expand...

Thanks, nice read, especially those words above...

His dad gives a very simple yet profound understanding about a real&solid relationship

King1 · Oct 1, 2008

ayears said:

Thanks, nice read, especially those words above...

His dad gives a very simple yet profound understanding about a real&solid relationship
Click to expand...

He's super close with his dad. They lived out of a car together and his Dad worked real hard to support them growing up. He's a really good dude.

YallMean · Oct 1, 2008

aussie rocket said:

I really feel for Gil - By GAR I HATE IT when girls throw themselves at me with marriage proposals.
Click to expand...

how many of them in your life so far? You must be rich.

BetterThanEver · Oct 1, 2008

He never had to ask a girl out, because they were always chasing the millions. Don't get married, Gil! It's a trap! She'll divorce you as soon she gets the chance and leave with half.

aussie rocket · Oct 1, 2008

YallMean said:

how many of them in your life so far? You must be rich.
Click to expand...

For the record I was being facetious.

ayears · Oct 2, 2008

King1 said:

He's super close with his dad. They lived out of a car together and his Dad worked real hard to support them growing up. He's a really good dude.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they are so closed... do some <a href="http://www.nba.com/blog/gilbert_arenas.html">reading</a>, only to find "my dad ... bla...bla..." full of page, and his pic - on the right side:

I'm surprised how important role his dad plays in his life...
<hr>

BetterThanEver said:

He never had to ask a girl out, because they were always chasing the millions. Don't get married, Gil! It's a trap! She'll divorce you as soon she gets the chance and leave with half.
Click to expand...

Why so negative?

Happiness is more precious than anything including money, which is meaningless and cannot buy true love...

TMac640 · Oct 2, 2008

Pretty funny stuff. Arenas is one of a kind, lol

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NBA: Arenas 'Expected to Be Wed' "My Girlfriend Proposed to Me"

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