"Pop!" goes the question!

Yes, you read it right, I am engaged.

Last night, I had been studying calculus at my girlfriend's house all day, and she had been doing homework as well. When she got to a good stopping point, I asked her if she wanted to go take a break at the park. She agreed, and I drove her over to the park where we had our first kiss (more than ten months ago).

When we got to the park, we walked up the hill and found a park bench where we could sit. We cuddled for a while, because it was cold, and I waited for an opportune moment - I already had the ring box in my pocket.

After what felt like an hour but was probably less than five minutes, she made a comment that it was a pretty night, but she really wished she could see the stars (it was a cloudy night.) I took that as my cue, and told her, "You can see the stars any night, but I know something that doesn't happen just any night."

"What?", she asked me. I took the ring box out of my pocket, got down on one knee, and simply asked her to marry me. She was ecstatic, to say the least. "Yes!", she exclaimed, and I'm pretty sure she started kissing me before she even looked at the ring! Her reaction was both exciting and entertaining; I'm glad it was in the affirmative.

After cherishing the moment for a while, we realized how cold it was outside, and walked back down to my car. Before getting her door, I told her I had heard (and really it was just an excuse) that a formal wedding request ought to involve three dozen roses. Her eyes got really big for the second time of the night, and I took three dozen red roses, all in one bouquet, out of my trunk. The bouquet must have weighed nearly five pounds!

When we discussed marriage before, I found out that she likes simple rings that don't stand too high off the finger. She's a hard worker and very outdoorsy, so I knew gold would be too soft for her ring. I also found out that she doesn't like large diamonds, which is a relief, because I can't afford large diamonds!

I managed to find an antique platinum ring from the early 1900s, probably about 1920, that is graceful and understated. It's a perfect match for the girl, in my opinion. The ring has nine perfect little diamonds in a segmented channel setting, and is definitely unique. I bought the ring, had it resized and completely refurbished, and now it looks like new. I definitely got a better ring than I ever thought I could afford!

I don't want to dwell on the specifics of the ring, what I'm most excited about is the girl! She's a perfect match for my adventurous nature, she's well educated (a graduate student!), she's funny, and she's very supportive of my goals. I'm excited to see how the next few days/weeks, months/years, decades/centuries, millennia/etc. will go. I better sign off before I get too sappy... Oh yeah, too late already! We plan to be married on June 20th.