The Engagement

As recounted to the best of Troy's recollection.

The Ring

After months of saving and searching, I had finally found the perfect ring. I had been checking Blue Nile almost daily trying to find the right mixture of size, color, and brilliance and had finally found it! I hadn't quite saved up enough money though, so I had to keep that ring in my shopping cart for another month before I could afford it (resulting in me obsessively checking the website to make sure it was still available). Eventually I was at last able to buy it and worked from home one day to make sure I was the one that received the package and not Alex (that would be bad). Now the only question was how do I give it to her?

The Plan

The idea I settled up on was simple. Our first date had been at a small French restaurant (Le Geulois Cafe), but we had just gone there for her birthday a month before. Instead I decided we would go out to dinner at the location of our second date, which just so happened to be our first Valentine's Day, at Taverna Cretekou. Afterward I thought we could take a nice stroll down to the pier in Old Town Alexandria and I could propose by the water. A plan as simple as that should go smoothly, right? Unfortunately we couldn't even make it out of the apartment without narrowly adverting a disaster!

On Our Way

Alex had been asking to have a date night for a few weeks, so it just so happened that I was able to coordinate our night out at a nice restaurant without arousing any suspicion. In fact, it looked like it was all her idea! I had schedule the date night for the very same day the ring was supposed to arrive and luckily it arrived right on time. I quickly hid the ring and its box inside a seldomly used cabinet in our living room and disposed of anything that would hint of a delivery. Finally when we were ready to leave for dinner I snuck the ring into my pocket, housed inside of its fairly bulky case. Wouldn't you know it that within thirty seconds of getting on the elevator, Alex sticks her hand in my pocket for no good reason! She must have thought the case was my cellphone or something and I hurriedly turned my body and held her hand. Alex obviously had no intention of helping my get through this night without a ton of anxiety. =)

Dinner

Dinner went smoothly and without much fanfare. I had several glasses of wine to help calm my nerves and I think I did a good job of not projecting that something else may be going on. After dinner was over I suggested that we go for a walk since we had both been drinking some wine. Alex immediately began to protest and offered that she was fine to drive. It was clearly a critical flaw in my plan that Alex hates to walk. =(

The Walk

After much convincing (and bribing with an ice cream from down the street) I convince Alex to walk down to the waterfront with me. Of course most of the way down she was complaining about having to walk and asking if we could turn around. At this point I had to consider other options such as proposing at home, but I was fairly dead-set on the current plan and just pressed on. When we finally reached the waterfront I decided that I wanted to sit down on a bench, but Alex was reluctant to do so as she just wanted to go home. Finally at long last after much convincing and about five minutes of searching for an empty bench, we found one and we were able to sit down. For a moment I felt relieved to have succeeded in the surprising hard mission of bring her down to the waterfront, then I was quickly seized by the anxiety of what had to come next...

The Proposal

So... this part is a little fuzzy for both of us, and even I did remember exactly what I said, I doubt I would tell any of you. =) What I can tell you is that I did indeed get down on one knee, open the ring case, and ask if Alex would be my wife. Unfortunately she didn't answer; she just sat there wide-eyed and stunned. Uh oh. After several long seconds that felt like an eternity I asked again, and this time she sprung to life and happily said yes! I was relieved that I had made it through the night and retained my sanity and also incredibly happy that she had said yes and to see how excited she was. She loved the ring and was already full of energy talking about the wedding. Alex might have made the night tough, but she was certainly worth it. =)