He Says...

I had planned for months to propose to Erin after I passed my preliminary exam. I knew I would stress over the exam, so I wanted rid of that before I popped the question. I had the ring about a month prior, and while I wanted to surprise her I am unfortunately marrying a detective.

I went to pick up the ring while Erin ran to lab one evening. Unfortunately for me, it started raining on my drive back. And Erin had noticed that my shoes had moved 3-inches and there was one small damp spot on the carpet. She immediately asked me where I had been. I, of course, did not expect her to notice a small damp spot or that my shoes were at a different angle, so I had no excuse. So I did what any normal guy would do: I acted like I didn't hear her. Surely it wouldn't be the first time or last time I tried tuning her out, she'd buy it, right? Right...

So Erin already "kinda knew" it was going to happen. I still figured I'd try to surprise her as much as possible. I picked the spot and time.

Then everything hit the fan. There were some issues with my exam, and it was to be postponed. I was crushed. It had taken me 4 months to find a date where each member of my committee would be present. The plans I had went out the window, and I probably seemed much more upset than I should have been to an unknowing person. Thankfully, the problems with the exam were resolved and that went smoothly.

The next day I convinced Erin that to celebrate we should try this little breakfast place, the Northside Grille, that my good friend Doug recommended. Doug of course had never been there but the story worked. Across the street from the restaurant is Broadway Park, a very nice and secluded place that runs along the Huron River. Erin was starving but I convinced her that we needed to check out the park, Doug said it was really nice. I had her hooked- then I spoiled it.

I don't know why it is, but if I ever wear a polo shirt, my undershirt sleeves are always too long and stick out. So I do what Erin calls "a sleeve check," where I tug on the polo shirt sleeve to get it back over. It's a battle that I always lose.

Well, in my attempt to not look like a scrub when I asked Erin to marry me, I did a quick sleeve check. And Erin caught me and immediately knew I was up to something. Thankfully, she didn't mind. Yes, I dropped to one knee. I apologized to Erin for the construction noise. She told me to hurry up because her eye makeup wasn't waterproof. But it went perfectly. Breakfast was top notch too.

She Says...

Dan and I had talked at length about wanting to get married, and it was abundantly clear that he didn't want to wait to propose any longer than he absolutely had to. I also knew that he wanted to wait until after his prelim. So, as the time grew closer, I couldn't help but keep my eyes and ears open for clues. When he started researching and shopping for my ring, he wasn't exactly subtle about it. For one, the process made him rather giddy, and for two there were a couple of times when I woke up late and started to walk into the computer room to say good morning, and he quickly blurted out that I needed to go back to bed for 10 more minutes. When he actually ordered the ring he was so over the moon that he couldn't resist sharing. He didn't come out and say "I ordered it!", but he started to make a habit of rubbing the back of my left ring finger "absent-mindedly" every time he held my hand. Calling him on it only made him do it more (of course).

I would have been completely oblivious of the ring's arrival if it hadn't been for Dan's lack of a cover story. That evening I went out for a few hours, and while I was gone there was a sudden short downpour. When I got home and opened the apartment door, I felt it hit Dan's shoes and push them across the carpet. I was confused, since as far as I knew I was the last person to leave. Then, I stepped out of my flipflops and discovered that the carpet was wet. There was no question that Dan had gone outside while I was gone, and so I innocently asked where he'd been. "Huh?" he replied, followed by several awkward beats of silence and then a complete change of subject. And that was it. He was caught. I spent the next few weeks before he proposed going completely crazy doing my absolute best to avoid snooping for the ring. (I behaved, honest!)

Looking back, Dan made a marionette out of me and had me set myself up for his proposal plan requiring he get me to Broadway Park. The week before his prelim he nonchalantly mentioned that his friend Doug had recommended a diner called Northside Grill as a great place for breakfast. I LOVE going out for breakfast, so as soon as I got home I looked the place up online to read reviews. Everyone warned that on weekends there was a lengthy wait, so I suggested we go sometime the next week, maybe Thursday after his prelim. He agreed to "my" idea, and tada, the trap was set. Dan took and passed his prelim on Wednesday, and Thursday went basically as Dan has said above. After tipping me off with his sleeve check, he held me close, said the most beautiful things anyone has ever said to me, and shook me out of my daze by apologizing for construction noise I hadn't even noticed. I laughed, which let loose the tears I'd been holding back, and told him to hurry up because my makeup wasn't waterproof. He pulled a wooden box out of his pocket, got down on one knee, and proposed. I said yes and eagerly hugged him, at which point he looked down at his hand, looked back at me, and said "I forgot to open it!" Overall, it was perfect, and very "us".