Ontario woman's blunt response to marriage proposal goes viral
CBC News | Posted: October 20, 2020 9:18 PM | Last Updated: October 20, 2020
Amal Jama-Williams had been separated from her American partner, Kareem Williams, due to the pandemic
After months of separation due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Kareem Williams, from Chicago, was finally able to propose to Londoner Amal Jama-Williams, but it was the way she responded after saying yes that turned the proposal viral.
"Are you dumb?" she said after Williams went down on one knee and asked her to marry him during a visit to Niagara Falls this past weekend.
"I really meant like, are you serious? Are you joking?" Jama-Williams explained on CBC's Metro Morning. "If you're from Canada or Toronto, then you know that I was not insulting him. I was very excited."
"Realistically, everything kind of went quiet. Like I didn't hear the falls. I didn't hear anybody. I didn't hear any chatter. I just went, like, completely blank, and I forgot that everybody was there."
The original video of the couple's engagement has since made its way around the Internet and has garnered more than 30,000 views on Twitter.
After arriving in Canada and quarantining, Williams explained he had been carrying the ring around for two weeks and was waiting for the perfect moment to pop the question.
"Once we got there, I fell in love with the falls and I'm like, 'yeah, this is it right here' ... and went for it," he said.
And it was truly a proposal reflective of the time.
"I faked like I dropped my mask," Williams said between laughs.
"She looked at it and then I came back up with the ring and she was like surprised and called me dumb," he added, laughing again.
Like many cross-border couples, the pandemic forced a separation neither of them liked, especially since Jama-Williams was pregnant.
"It was rough," she said. "I spent one month of my pregnancy with him and the rest we were separated because COVID happened right away, so it was actually horrible, but it's worth it now."
The couple, who has now welcomed their baby, credits FaceTime for helping them get through the separation.
With much uncertainty around COVID-19, the couple hasn't set a date for their wedding.
"I'm going to enjoy this engagement ... we're going to take our time," Jama-Williams said.