One Saturday in November of 2000, he asked me to come over because he was going to cook me dinner. I was a little late getting there. As I pulled in the drive, his car wasn't there, so I thought "okay, maybe he had to go out and get something." I park the car, get out and go to the door. Taped on the door is a little card/note, telling me that he accidentally burnt dinner and that he was waiting at a restaurant for me. But to get the phone number of the restaurant, I had to follow some directions.
First direction was to go into the house and look at the tape player in the living room. Above the tape player was a note telling me to listen to the tape and follow those directions. I listen.
The second directions tell me to go to the place where you go to the bathroom. I get there and look under the seat of the toilet. There's another note.
Third directions tell me to go to where he sleeps and look in the place where he hangs his clothes. I go to his bedroom and look in the closet.. There's another note.
Fourth directions tell me to stay in this room and look at the radio. I do and there is another note.
Fifth directions tell me to go to the place where he washes his clothes and look in the washer. I get there, lift the lid of the washer and there's another note. By this time, I'm wondering what he's got in mind. And that this is fun.
Sixth directions tell me to go to where his computer is and turn it on. I get there and turn it on and it flashes for me to go out to the garage and get my prize for playing this game.
I go out to the garage, as I'm opening the side door, everything is covered in black plastic so I couldn't see anything through the window. Well, inside in the corner there's Christmas lights in the shape of a heart with an arrow pointing towards the door into the garage (which is of course covered in black plastic). Well I push through the plastic and surprise, there he is standing beside a Christmas tree with all the lights on it and hanging from the ceiling. To the left of him is a table with Cornish hens, vegetables, cheese, and drinks. He had cooked dinner for me after all and wanted to surprise me. He knows I love Christmas. Well, it surprised me... we hug and sit down to eat.
After dinner I notice there are three presents under the tree. He kneels down and grabs a present, gives it to me and tells me to open it. The first present is a figurine. He then gives me another one. This one is a white stuffed bear. He then gives me the last one. It was wrapped like a bottle. I open it, there's a tin can with another small box. I pull out the small box and at that time he gets on his knee. When I open it, there's my engagement ring and that's when he asks me to marry him.
I will always remember that. He made the proposal encompass everything I love...Christmas and him.
S. R., Grand Rapids, Michigan
Patrick and I knew that this was it for us as soon as we met. A week after we started seeing each other (I later found out) he told his mother and sisters that this was "serious" and pretty much flat-out told them that he intended to marry me. The first time I met his mother, in fact, she said something about how she had sons-in-law, but getting a daughter-in-law was new for her ... ;-) Yikes!
So we talked around it a lot, and tried to "go slow," but we both knew that we were headed in this direction. One Sunday morning we slept late and were lounging around in bed snuggling. Patrick told me he was so happy and he loved me so very much and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. I said, "Well, I guess you'd better marry me then." He said, "I think that's a very good idea." So I said, "Then ask me." He did. I said yes, then I said, "Ask me again!" about three or four times because I was so thrilled, and I loved him so much and being asked to marry him was was so much fun.
Then we went out for breakfast and grinned at each other a lot.
D. L., Portland, Oregon
We actually had the ring for about six months because when we started seriously discussing marriage I had asked my father to give me the wedding set my grandmother left me as my inheritance. Until then I had not really decided to wear it, but when I had it out and was looking at it after all these years (she passed away about 13 years ago) I KNEW it was what I wanted. So, the rings sat in the box on top of my FH's dresser for months. I told him I did not really care about a big deal proposal because we knew we were going to get married anyway, so we should just get them sized and just "be" engaged. He kept saying "OK, we'll do it this weekend" for quite a long time, and it got me soooooo bummed because I felt like he was putting me off.
One day, I was very upset with him and said, "Look, I am taking the rings in to get sized myself, and I will just propose to YOU if you want some big proposal!" He acted all annoyed and said "Fine, I'll do this weekend, just stop bugging me." That night we were supposed to take his mom out to dinner for her birthday. He insisted that I wear his favorite dress cuz we were going out to a nice restaurant in Belmont Shores. I grudgingly agreed (I hate dresses), and got all dressed up.
An hour into our drive to the restaurant, his pager went off. He has one of those text message ones, and it was his mom saying she was not going to make it. I was FURIOUS and went off about how she was so rude and flaky and how could she do this to him and on and on. I wanted to turn around and go home, but he said they would charge $50 on his credit card if we did not show up, which made me even MORE angry. I was pouting and sullen and just cursing his mom out in my mind, when he pulled the car up to a dock in Naples, which is a small community built on canals (not in Italy!!). He said it was a surprise for his mom to take her on a gondola ride, but he said we had to go anyway because they were going to charge us. Again, I was just seething with anger that this beautiful man went to all this trouble and his mother just brushed him off. We were escorted to the largest and oldest TWO seater they had (which should have tipped me off right away) and floated along. I softened my mood because it was just so lovely, and I was with my sweetie after all, so I thought I should enjoy myself. At the very end of the canals, the gondolier pulled to the side under a bridge as the sun set, and Brandon said he had to shift because his keys were poking his leg. He got down on one knee and pulled the ring out of his pocket! I was shocked and thrilled (as was the gondolier!!). All I could respond was "Oh, no you didn't! Oh, no you didn't!" and he asked, "Is that a yes or a no??" Of course I said yes, and the excited gondolier burst into song, serenading us with an Italian love song.
I called his mom that night and apologized profusely for being so mad at her. hehe.
So, long story long, yes, I knew about the ring, but no I did not have any idea about the proposal, and it was spectacular. He is a GOOD actor!!
J. K., Fullerton, California
Dwayne and I met and got serious right away. My parents had never seen me this happy before. They traveled to Calgary from a small town to fly to Mexico. Dwayne made a reservation at the restaurant we had our first date at. My parents were picked up for dinner and we all looked forward to spending some time together. We made it through dinner before anything was said but at the end of the meal Dwayne pulled out a piece of paper, he had written a poem it went like this:
My fiancé proposed to me on Kyle Field at Texas A&M. I went to school there and was involved with the Football Office. He blind folded me and drove me there and took me out to the middle of the field on the 50 yard line with no one in the stadium. He had the ring and a Texas A&M jersey in a box with printed on the back, "Amy will you marry me, love Jamie."
A. M., Dallas, Texas
