The story of our engagement actually begins in October of 1996. (Yes, there is a history of our engagement that dates back to a few months after we first met.)

It all started one night when Ruth was getting confused as to what my intentions were and where our relationship was going. We had already talked about this a few times, but she was still feeling uneasy. We both realized after our first date (see How We Met for more on the first date) that this was going to be a long-term, serious type relationship. And yes, the M word did come up during those discussions. So, on this October night, after I received a call from a somewhat upset Ruth, I drove to Georgetown from my Austin apartment to put her mind at ease. When I arrived we went for a walk around the campus at Southwestern at stopped at a bench near the library. That night I told her that when the time was right, I would ask her to marry me.

So, now we skip ahead to the Fall of 1999 and Ruth is beginning to wonder what my intentions are. Okay, so it had been 3 years since I made that promise to her. I still intended to hold myself to it, and we had even discussed it a few times over the years. But, now it was getting closer to the time, so we began to look at rings. And we looked and looked, and Ruth liked one ring one week and another the next. So, we continued to look around. We stopped looking after a couple of weeks, and the urgency seemed to fade a bit. Then it resurfaced in the Spring of 2000.

I wanted to ask her at this point. But, I also wanted to do it right. I wanted to get her an engagement ring that she liked and would be happy with for the rest of her life. I felt I should ask for her Dad's blessing before asking her. And so my quest began. Ruth and I again looked at rings. This time she found one she really liked. Her eyes sparkled as the saleswoman let her try it on. Later in the car, she told me, "I can see myself growing old with that ring." And then I knew, that was the ring to get.

Now, she had to work the next day and I thought to myself, "Is she going to change her mind again?" And I convinced myself that she wouldn't. So, after dropping her off at work I went and bought the ring. I had already told Ruth not to expect it on our anniversary. I couldn't see getting the ring and talking with her dad that quick. The fact that I now had the ring only solved part of my problem. I still had to ask for her father's blessing. I felt fairly confident he would give it, but still the stress of asking was there.

Over the next few days, I sweated about trying to arrange a meeting with her father and exactly what I would say at such a meeting. I knew that the trip to North Carolina was coming up and set that as my deadline to talk to him. I figured if I couldn't talk to him before then, that would be when I did it. I also didn't want to ask him for his blessing to far in advance of when I was going to ask Ruth, and I figured if it happened in North Carolina, a stroll down the beach at sunset wouldn't be a bad setting for me to ask the question. But, as luck would have it, I decided to do it sooner than that. While he was away on a trip to Europe I called his secretrary and arranged a meeting for 11:30 AM on our anniversary. The whole time I kept talking to Ruth about how nervous I was about having to ask her dad, always talking about it like something that would be in the distant future. Never did I let on that it would be happening in a couple of days.

While all of this was going on in the background of our lives, Ruth decided that she really wanted to go play miniture-golf. So, we scoured the web for places to go in the Austin area and found a couple. There was one place about 30-40 minutes away that looked really nice, but there was also a place about 10 minutes away that was...well, a lot closer. So, we went to the place nearby but it was too crowded. So, no miniture golf for us... and life went on.

As our anniversary approached, Ruth arranged for us to go to her parents' house for the 4th of July. She also politely suggested that this would be a good time for me to talk with her dad. Of course, she didn't realize I already had plans to talk to him on June 29th. So, I played up my nervousness about talking to him on July 3rd, even though I knew it would be over by then. As our anniversary approached, I simply told her that I was going to take her out to eat and then to a "special place". (Little did I know what she would end up thinking.)

On the night of the 28th, I told Ruth I had an important meeting the next day at work. This gave me an excuse to dress nicer than usual and leave a bit earlier. So, while she sat at home (she had the day off) I left as usual to go to work. But, instead of just driving to San Marcos, I drove on to San Antonio. A got there a bit early and so I drove around a bit and ate salmon sushi in the parking lot of Trinity University. After that I went to the meeting with her Dad and caught him by surprise. After a nice talk with him, and getting his blessing, a got a phone call from Ruth as I was walking out the door. Of course, I told her I was just taking a break outside at work...

That night I had everything planned. Ruth had mentioned wanting to go eat at a little Italian restaurant near where we used to live, and I thought that would be the perfect place to eat before popping the question. Of course, when we go there we discovered that the place had gone out of business because they lost their lease. Luckily, there was a recommendation of another restaurant owned by the same people that we went to instead. The atmosphere was a bit more casual, and the food was just as good. After that we started our adventure to the "special place", and to keep an air of mystery about everything I had Ruth wear a blindfold for our drive.

Right after she put on the blindfold, I made a joke about being stopped by the police. And a few minutes later we pulled up next to the Austin Police Department Forensics Unit. They didn't even seem to notice I had a blindfolded girl in the seat next to me, and we drove on towards the "special place". After a few minutes I asked Ruth if she had any idea where we were going, and she wasn't sure where we were going but knew almost exactly where we were. So, I took some side roads and some back roads with lots of twists and turns to try and confuse her. Luckily this worked and about the time we drove into Georgetown she said, "Where are we going? I know we haven't driven far enough to be in Georgetown yet. How much longer is it going to be?" So now I knew she didn't know where we were at and I told her it would only be a few more minutes. Later I found out she thought we were going to play miniture golf at that far off place we found. Boy was she in for a surprise...

We pulled into a parking lot at Southwestern near the library. I led her out of the car and over to a nearby bench. I knew it wasn't the same bench we were at back in October of 1996, but it was close enough. Besides, she was getting a bit nervous being led around this strange place in a blindfold. She was also a bit paranoid that people were watching her, even though no one else was around. Of course, she thought we were at a miniture golf course so I can understand the paranoia.

I had her sit down on the bench and I kneeled down in front of her. I took out the ring and had it behind my back as I told her to take off the blindfold. As she realized where we were tears came to her eyes and I'm not sure if she really heard everything I said. But, she did hear me ask, "Will you marry me?" She said yes and we danced and rejoiced for a bit and she wondered how I knew that she wanted me to propose to her at Southwestern. (Lucky guess on my part and major brownie points!) After our emotions calmed down a little we began to call people to let them know the good news.

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