Song #207: "Say You Will"--Foreigner (1987)

Ironically enough, this song was released as the first single from Foreigner's "Inside Information" album just nineteen days before I asked my future wife, Bonnie, "the question" on Christmas Eve, 1987.

Here's how it went down.

I didn't want a simple proposal, I wanted to put some thought and excitement to it, but how? Working as assistant manager at the Regency Inn motel near Regency Square at the time, I decided to utilize my resources. I knew I would be staying there the week leading up to Christmas as our General Manager was taking time off. I knew the nice suite we used for business mixers and other events, that could also be rented out, was available on Christmas Eve.

The question was, how to get Bonnie to the hotel on the night of Christmas Eve.

So, the plan went into motion. Remember, it's 1987. Bonnie, her mom, and younger sisters, didn't have a home telephone in the apartment they'd recently entered. So, hypothetically, if the motel paged me due to a problem and I "had" to go back to check on things.....

So I had the front desk clerk on duty page me at exactly 9:30pm while I was with Bonnie. I said I'd have to run up the street and call on a pay phone to see what the problem was, and she drove up the street with me. I got into the car, explained there had been an apparent break-in in our business suite and I needed to return to deal with it.

Complete with speeding (if you know me, you know I don't do that a whole lot), we high-tailed it from Mechanicsville Turnpike across town to Parham and Quioccasin. I set her down in the lobby and headed to the third floor suite, with, of all things, a hole puncher in my hand. I wasn't armed, so, why not take an appropriate office tool. (Hilarious!)

Then, getting to the suite seeing everything I planned together (the sparkling grape juice, the ring, etc), I called her from the room politely asking her if she could come help me pick up the place.

A minute later, she arrived, and, I brought her in, sat her down, and said, "I've always said I was going to say this just one time so I'd better get it right. Bonnie Conley, will you marry me?"

She burst into laughter, and, after I took some time to collect my ego, we began negotiating the yearly fee I'd pay to be her husband.

Just kidding.

She said yes, and, 68 days after our first date, we were engaged. That was almost 29 years ago. Sigh.

I, essentially said, "Say You Will"??  And she did.

Back to the song, it's my second favorite from Foreigner, the third of four entries. My favorite comes further down the road, and you'll have to reach back earlier in their career, in fact, quite a bit earlier, to find it.  :)