The Proposal

I knew I wanted to surprise her.

Our two-year anniversary was fast approaching, and we had plans to spend the weekend in Lake Geneva. I knew she’d be disappointed if the milestone came and went without a proposal, and yet I definitely didn’t want to do the whole engagement-ring-in-the-champagne-glass thing.

In fact, I had decided not to propose with a ring at all – I wanted us to pick it out together. So, a couple of weeks before the big day, I stopped by Tiffany and bought a pair of earrings I knew she would like. I sort of had a rough idea of how I thought it would go down, and I was mostly right.

On Tuesday, we had our first beach volleyball game of the season, and fortunately it was one of those perfect Chicago summer evenings. After our game (L 1-2), and a little bit of convincing, I got her to take a walk along the lakefront. At a bend in the path we sat down on the wall, and when she wasn’t looking I snuck the box with the earrings out of my backpack and onto the concrete between us.

A minute passed, and she didn’t notice.

A few more minutes passed, and it felt like hours. Finally, I started staring at her, and then staring down at the box, hoping she’d follow my eyes.

“Why are you looking at me weird?” she asked.

I gave up and nodded down toward the box. Things get a little blurry at this point, but three things definitely happened:

1. She got the box open.
2. I asked her to marry me.
3. She replied with an Elaine Benes-style “Shut. Up!”

But, after the initial shock wore off, I got an official reply (“yes”) and the deal was done.