He asked me to marry him and finally the 'lump in the throat' melted away.

 I know that feeling of 'lump in the throat' and I can authoritatively confirm that it happens and you feel it physically. A huge painful lump that just wouldn't go down.

I had that feeling a couple of years ago when something horribly painful and unexpected happened to me. Tears wouldn't take it away, neither would my resolution to move on, so I came to accept that the lump was always going to be there along with a painful ache, that feeling of a deep hole somewhere in my heart which was always just at the background as well as the feeling that something was missing which was never ever going to be found.