On May 12th, 2006, a Friday night, we had planned to go on a date. We were celebrating our 9 month anniversary so I thought it was going to be a little more special than normal. We went to dinner at Christopher’s Grille and the food was delicious. We had some good discussions and then decided to go to my house to do what Jeff called “digest.”  Unbeknownst to me, Jeff’s roommates were setting up a “candlelight picnic” in the park we went to on our first date.  At my apartment we waited a few minutes/digested then grabbed our dessert and headed to the park.  Up until then Jeff didn’t want to spoil the surprise of where we were going, so this is when he informed me of our destination.

We drove up to the park and headed down to the pond area. On our first date we came here to feed ducks so I asked him “did you bring bread this time?” “No, we’re going to do something else.” About there we began walking up to a blanket with rose petals all around and tea light candles outlining the walkway.  There was also a big bowl of three floating candles, a bottle of champagne, and a little boom box playing classical music.

I’m overwhelmed with wonder at what’s going on and honestly getting a little anxious (however it’s only been 10 minutes).  Then he suggests “Let’s talk about a question from The Book of Questions while we dance to another song.” This book helps people get to know each other, and we had brought it on a couple of our dates.  I’m a little confused but agree in my stupor.  Also, he always plans our dates well so I knew he had a plan.

Then he knelt down and pulled a RING out of The Book of Questions and said “Actually I only have one question for you tonight. I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?” I said an ecstatic “YES!” and we hugged.

After a few minutes, his clever roommates who had helped set this up came back and took pictures of us and the ring.  Then after they left we spent awhile enjoying each other as fiancés and talking about the details of how he had been planning our engagement day

Apparently the week before - in one day - he drove three hours down and back to San Antonio to ask my dad for his blessing and talk with my mom.  Also a few weekends before that he went ring shopping in Dallas with his parents.  He also explained how he had come up with the ideas for our evening and asked his roommates to help out.  Last but not least, he had glued the pages of The Book of Questions together and cut out a hole in the middle where he had hidden the ring.

Around midnight, we called our parents to share our wonderful news, headed back to my house, and reluctantly parted.