One could say that I tried to be parient, but my friends and family all know that I love this man and want to start a life with him.  The pressure was on! We were enjoying a very casual Christmas morning exchanging gifts by the tree, and I was begining to think he had over done the number of gifts he kept pulling out for me.  He gave me a new coffee pot (in the back of my mind I said, "Not a ring though...").  He gave me a bicycle ("...not a ring..."). Then he gave me a clock radio that would connect to my phone ("Love it, but not a ring...").  He casually mentioned that there might be one more gift tucked away in the back.   I pulled out a decent sized package and unwrapped it curiously. Inside was a smaller wrapped box, and inside that was a very small wrapped box... that's when I started to get all teary eyed.  I unwrapped the final box to see the most beautiful symbol of our relationship.  He said, "I should do this the right way..." and he got down on one knee...

Jennifer and I had been together for over three years and we had talked about getting married a few times and we knew it was what we both wanted.  So, not knowing very much about diamonds and engagement rings, I started doing some research.  I learned quite a bit about diamonds and felt I was ready to find the perfect ring.  I browsed many websites and eventually came across a company that specialized in ethically sourced diamonds and used recycled metals.  That appealed to me as I knew I would be buying a conflict free diamond.  I looked at the different settings and found one that I thought was very nice; simple but elegant. I picked out a nice diamond and placed my order.

Now that I had the ring, I had to figure out how I would propose.  I thought about all the typical proposal locations such as a nice restaurant or some romantic place.  Being in Las Vegas, I also thought about somewhere on the strip, perhaps in front of the Bellagio fountains, but none of those ideas really seemed right to me.  It just wouldn’t have been our style.  I thought about popping the question at a park while on a picnic.  We went on one and I brought the ring with me but it just wasn’t right. By the time Jennifer got home from work and we went to the park, it was already dark and we were sitting at a picnic table that just wasn’t the right spot. So much for that idea.

A couple weeks later, we went to Mt. Charleston to go on a hike. I thought that might be a good place to ask her to marry me so I after putting the ring in my backpack along with a bag of trail mix and some bottles of water, we went hiking.  I had never been on that particular trail before so I didn’t really know where the perfect spot would be.  As we were hiking, I kept thinking to myself…“How about here?” After passing a few possible spots, we stopped to take a break and I almost asked her right then and there but it just wasn’t the perfect spot. 

At this point, I was feeling a little frustrated about this whole thing because I wanted everything to be very special.  I was never very good at being romantic and this was hard for me.  I was running out of ideas.  As it was late fall and the holidays were coming up, I decided to wait until Christmas.  I came up with the idea of wrapping the box containing the ring and putting it inside another box which I also wrapped.  Then I put that box inside yet another box.  She would never guess what was inside. 

Christmas morning came and we were exchanging gifts.  I made sure the one with the ring was saved for last.  As I handed the box to her, she commented that it felt light.  She unwrapped the first box, only to find another wrapped box.  She was laughing about it, not knowing what was inside.  She then unwrapped the second wrapped box, which I had stuffed with tissue paper and contained the wrapped box with the ring inside. When she found the small box, I think she began to realize what it was and after she unwrapped it, I took it from her and got down on one knee and opened the box to reveal the ring I had picked out just for her.  She said yes and now we are going to get married on a cruise ship on the Mediterranean Sea and spend the rest of our lives together.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.