Women taking a 'leap' of faith this year

Now as there are only two days left of February (yes, two days, not one, as 2012 is a leap year) I would like to discuss the trend of women proposing to men when this occurrence happens once every four years.

According to Australian wedding website the knot.com.au women weren’t allowed to propose to men except on one day (February 29 on a leap year). 

The website says:

The tradition dates back hundreds of years, to when the leap year was not recognised by English law; the day was simply "leapt over" and ignored. Since it had no legal status, formal traditions did not apply on this day. Consequently, women who were not content to wait for a proposal took advantage of this anomaly and popped the question themselves. It was also thought that since leap year corrected the discrepancy between the calendar year (365 days) and the time it takes for the earth to complete one orbit of the sun (365 days and 6 hours), it was an opportunity for women to correct a tradition that was one-sided and unfair.

I love marriage proposals – mine was the most wonderful moment that I will cherish forever. When my husband got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife was honestly the happiest day of my life (apart from actually marrying him!).

In my head, there is just something a bit wrong about this picture if it were me down on bended knee.  

I am not a feminist or anything and I do believe that women, if they have enough balls to do it, have every right to ask their man to be their husband.

I’m just not one of those chicks.

The way I see it is this – women get the amazing experience of giving birth to children, so shouldn’t men get to do something awesomely special as well? The ladies can’t go hogging all the good stuff in life! 

Another thing is this, if he hasn’t asked you, he’s probably not ready for marriage – don’t think that beating him to the chase is going to do yourself any favours, because you might end up dejected and woefully embarrassed.

I just think that it’s up to the man to ask. I guess I am a bit of a romantic and I am a sucker for happily ever after stories, but there is something to be said for a man who loves a woman and just wants to make her his. I think that if I had asked my husband to marry me that he would probably felt just a little less masculine…

So, I’ll say this – it’s not for everyone, but if you’re a lady and wanting to take matters into your own hands – then good luck to you! I really hope it works out for you and that he says “yes!”.