January 19, 2004...We've been engaged for four days.
We were longtime friends who fell in love and got together, we have been living together since August and had been talking marriage already for months. So I expected it to not be as much of a surprise as it was.
Our months have been recently consumed with family obligations as he has been tending to his stepfather, who is dying of cancer. I'd dropped everything to help him through this time. It's been very sad, very stressful.
While visiting the mother and stepfather, we managed to sneak away: a few hours of stolen magic. He bought me a strawberry pearl tea and then took me up to these two parks in the LA area that had special associations from his childhood... the first was Orcutt Ranch, with beautiful hedge mazes and gardens and orchards and a creek running through it; the other was a small park in the area where he used to live as a child.
And as if the day hadn't been magical enough. We were standing on the top of this hill at the second park, and he says, "I think I see something on the ground."
I look on the ground - there's a ring lying there. It's a very pretty and very old-fashioned looking ring. I figured an older person must've lost it, because of the style. I pick it up and say "M, I think somebody dropped this".
I'm on my knees looking at it, then he gets on his and says "Will you marry me?"
I think he's joking!! Then he says the ring was his grandmother's engagement ring, from 1939 and that he's serious!!
I said yes!!!
We went home, and walked hand-in-hand to his stepfather's bedside, and told him that we were getting married.
He was very weak, and couldn't communicate. Perhaps delirious from the morphine drip. But he smiled a big smile.
Going through this time with my fiance made me more sure than ever that I want to marry him.
No Name, no location
I knew a proposal was coming but I didn't know when. My silly Fiance was so excited he had told me that he had bought my ring, but that it wouldn't be in until the beginning of March. I cam home from school for the weekend on Feb. 21. Dan told me that his sister wanted us to come over, she had just gotten a new puppy and wanted us to see him. So we went over to his sister house and she asks Dan if he'd go upstairs and check her Internet because it wasn't working. A few minutes pass and she asks me to go up to check on him, since she couldn't leave the puppy alone.
I started up the stairs and as I near the top I notice that there were streamers hanging down from the door from of her spare room. I thought this was odd... I walked through the door and there were more streamers hanging from the ceiling with pictures of me and Dan on them and sprinkled all over the floor were rose petals. In the middle of all of it was Dan on one knee.
'Brooky will you marry me?' My first response was 'Are you serious?! YES!' After he put the ring on my finger he handed me a dozen red roses in a beautiful vase and a single white rose that was preserved and dipped in gold.
B. W., West Mifflin, Pennsylvania
I had been sick with mono for a couple months while I was interning in Seattle, and Pete made a huge effort to drive out and see me as often as he could. Around my birthday, he took me out for a picnic lunch that he'd prepared — a surprise in itself. We'd talked casually about marriage before but he had always said he wanted to take it slow and wait until he was financially stable, so a proposal was the furthest thing from my mind.
Besides the picnic for my birthday, he also got me tickets to a concert, and then added that he had one last gift. He'd gone to the Bear Factory and handmade his own teddy bear, dressing it up in a tux. I thought it was adorable, as most girls do, and he said to press his paw because there was a recorded message for me.
He had recorded the message when he made the bear, and it went on to say how much he loved me, how blessed he was to have me in his life, how everything seemed perfect... and finally at the end, "Will you marry me?" At that moment, he popped the top of the jewelry box open as I looked up to stare at him in surprise.
We married about six months later.
C. S., Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
My fiance was supposed to go to Iraq on January 10, 2004 That was on a Saturday so my friends wanted to take me out so we went to the bar that we all go to.
About the time that I was about to start crying again the DJ said, "Can I please have Andrew and Brandy to the dance floor please."
So he propose to me in front of all my friends and family and needless to say the entire bar.
He leaves today (Jan. 19, 2004) and returns in 2005.
B. B., Council Bluffs, Iowa
I was out to dinner with a friend. He called on my cell phone to tell me he was not feeling well. He asked me to stop at the drugstore on my way home from dinner to get him some medicine.
About 20 minutes later he called back and asked me to call him from the drugstore to read him the symptoms form the packages. I did, and headed home.
When I pulled up to our apartment, it was dark. I figured he was in bed sleeping. When I opened the door, there were rose petals scattered on the floor, candles lit and music playing.
There was a big box wrapped up with a bow on it. When I opened it up, a puppy popped out. He said "there is something around her neck for you".
Then he got down on one knee and told me that he loves me and asked if I would marry him.
L. D., Itasca, Illinois
My fiance, Bryon, and I have been dating for nine years. For some odd reason marriage was just never brought up. We loved each other and never felt pressured to get married. The night that Bryon proposed to me was his best friend's birthday. We were at his party having a great time with about twenty or so other people when it came time for the toast. Bryon first gave a toast to his best friend's birthday, which included a beautiful speech of wishing him happiness. After Bryon was done he did not sit down however. He then turned to looked at me and sad aloud. "There's some one else I would also like to acknowledge." While keeping eye contact with me, he rehearsed a poem he had written for me.
"Teresa you have loved me so
I thought I'd write this poem
To tell you how much I love you
And how my heart is filled with hope
I wish I could repay you
For everything you've done
But no one could ever live that long
And words just aren't that strong
I know you have already done so much
But I still have one thing to ask
Will you please be my bride
I'll promise to do my best"
T. C., San Francisco, California
