Our Love Story---The Proposal

I reread my love story posts that I started over two years ago and realized I never finished the series!!!  I left you hanging with ring shopping, so today I will share about "the proposal."  I don't feel like doing all the links, so to read posts 1-4, just click on the "Our Love Story" category on the left.

I knew it was coming SOMETIME, so of course, I was suspicious during every date.  Patrick asked my dad to lunch, and they shared a quick meal at Burger King (my dad's suggestion since that's all the time he had), and Patrick asked him for my hand.  He made the trip to PA and back without me knowing!

April 6 was our 1 year dating anniversary, and Patrick had a special date planned for us.  He came to pick me up, and he was pacing while I was getting ready....he would normally just watch TV or relax on the couch.  He took me to a fabulous restaurant for dinner.  We had a room to ourselves with a fireplace.  I thought, "this MUST be the night."  Patrick dropped his fork, and my heart skipped as he bent to pick it up....nope.  Towards the end of dinner, he got down on one knee.....EEEKKK....tied his shoe and went to the men's room.  To Patrick's credit, he wasn't messing with me.  He had a plan for when he would propose, and this wasn't it.  He didn't have a clue that I was going crazy!  Once dinner was over, he took me to watch the sunset at Loch Raven Reservoir, the place where he asked me to start dating him.  We saw more than a dozen deer....it was perfect.  The ring was in his pocket.  THEN, a fisherman slowly inched his way towards us and was right in front of us at the perfect moment.  Back into his pocket went the ring.

We headed back to Patrick's place to watch a movie.  At this point, I lost all suspicion.  If he hadn't done it in the romantic restaurant or by the river with the sunset and deer, it was probably not happening tonight.  We parked outside his house, and as I opened my door, Patrick suddenly ordered, "GET IN THE CAR!"  I quickly closed the door.  There had been some gang activity recently in the neighborhood, and Patrick spotted a group of guys coming around the corner.  We drove away as they chased our car.  Thank you Lord!!!  Patrick had the ring in his pocket!!!  I suggested we go back to MY place for the movie, but Patrick was afraid my roommate would be there, and he REALLY DID want to propose that night.  After we had called the cops and drove around for a while, he convinced me it was safe.  AFTER the movie, he started talking about some of his favorite memories from the past year.  I started to cry.  He thought I knew what was coming...the funny part is after being suspicious the ENTIRE evening, I didn't think this was "it."  I just realized what a great guy he is, and I was overwhelmed by the memories.  He slipped a ring on my finger and said, "I look forward to a lifetime of memories with you.  Would you marry me?"  YES!!!

Despite the late hour, we called all our immediate family to share the news.