Fourteen Years Ago...I Popped the Question!

Today's the day Tara and I reminisce about the evening we got engaged.

There are a couple reasons why I picked this day to ask Tara to marry me.
One reason: our first date was on November 12, 1993 - so it seemed neat to ask her to marry me on the 12th of December.

Another reason: it was the last week of class, exam week, and I only had two more days to ask her while at school, otherwise we'd be on Christmas break. If I was going to ask her, I'd be a moron to wait till after Christmas.

Still another reason: Tara and I had been talking about getting engaged for several months. My asking her to marry me wasn't going to be the surprise, when and how - that was the surprise. Dec. 12, 1994 was a Tuesday; Tara thought I'd ask her to marry me on Monday. That's what I thought anyway, so that obviously ruled out Monday as an option, since I can't ask her to marry me on the day she thinks it's going to happen. So I lied to her.

I told her that I didn't think I was ready to get married yet. She wasn't to happy with me after that conversation. But now I had her where I wanted her - now she would be surprised when I asked her the question. I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I was smart enough to know that I'd better not let too much time pass before I actually did ask her. So Tuesday afternoon I put my plan into place.

I gathered a bunch of my friends together and gave them each an item, and then sent them to different places around campus and around town. Fourteen years later, I'm fuzzy on the order, and I may forget a couple of the guys who helped me. I think Matt Lister and Kurt Grau went to the Subway where Tara and I could get a cheap lunch (we were very poor in college...); Scott Starry and Kratz ...Adam...and Kirby...I think, went to the Sunken Gardens; Marty and his girlfriend Julia - I think they went downtown by the courthouse (Tara and I used to go for long walks in the night); Tom Rapchuk was in the dorm foyer; Troy Jester and his girlfriend Michelle went to the soccer field (where Tara and I used to go to watch the stars); my brother Jerm was the last stop by the water fountain (a traditional spot to get engaged). I was waiting for Tara at my Aunt Shirley and Faye's house, which is where Jerm sent Tara.

The house was all decorated with beautiful Christmas lights, the inside was all lit up as well, with a gorgeous Christmas tree filling the parlor. Obviously Tara had figured out what was going on, but we enjoyed the moments, and enjoyed Tara retelling her experiences of going all over town trying to find me, and getting the messages from all our friends. During the story-telling, we started slow-dancing to the music I had playing, and then finally I got down on my knee and asked Tara to marry me. She gasped, she smiled, she teared up, she let me put the ring on her finger and of course she whispered Yes!

December 12 is always a good day to remember!