Six years ago, I was at a friend's house in high school. I noticed a photo on her fridge of her mother's feet in gorgeous red pointed-toe loafers, and her mother's partner's feet in caramel-colored dress shoes. I wasn't a shoe person at that point, and even I was drooling.

I commented on how beautiful the shoes were, and my friend said:

Last year he pawned his diamond and gold wedding band [my note: he'd divorced a decade earlier] and bought my mother five pairs of leather shoes made in Italy when he went there for business. When he came back, he presented her with all five pairs - one for each year they'd been together - and asked her to fill out civil partnership paperwork with him. She thought about it for a couple weeks, and said yes by buying him the shoes you see him wearing in the photo.

Best commitment-ceremony-that-wasn't-really-a-ceremony ever!