His Story:
My wife likes to tell the story differently from the way it actually happened, so here is the truth about our proposal. The planning for the proposal started 2 weeks in advance. I had been thinking for some time that I knew this was the woman for the rest of my life. I grew up with respect and wanted to convey this to her family, so I asked her Mother and her Brother for her hand in Marriage. Her father passed when she was in college, so her younger Brother was someone whom she respected in a father figure way. I contacted her Mother first and she was elated. Her brother was more excited than I had ever seen him. He of course agreed. Then I told my parents of what was to come. They were all happy and every one of them knew that it was to happen. I had a few more days in Fort Dix, New Jersey (Army training before Afghanistan) and I was trying to get a ring in time for her arrival to Newport News, VA in a few days. I arrived to Virginia two days before she did and I had to get the plan in action. The first thing is outfit. I went to Burlington Coat factory so I could get a respectable set of threads before she arrived the next day. Then on to the ring… I called up her Best Friend in order to ensure that my memory was correct. The ring was described to me by Amanda several months before during our courtship. The diamonds were to be Princess Cut, and 3 in total. I went to Jared (cliché’ I know), and spent 3 hours searching for the perfect ring. Guess what? I forgot the ring size. So I had to make another call to Chantae’ (Men if you are reading this, being friends with her friends is not always a bad thing). Tae came through, yet again, and I ordered the ring, but it was to be done 1 hour before she arrived. It is almost an hour trip from The Beach to Newport News Airport (cutting it close of course). The day had arrived. I got freshened up and drove to get the ring. No problems so far and none until I remembered a request that I promised would happen. Tae wanted to be on the phone when the proposal happened and since she had been asked for Amanda’s hand in marriage as well, I felt that it would be no problem. I arrived to the airport with a few minutes to spare and called Tae. She was at work and was happy to be on the phone. Then I called Amanda to see if she had arrived. Her flight hadn’t arrived yet. She called me moments later and I told Tae I would call her back. Then I answered the phone to Amanda and hung up. I called Tae and then Amanda back on 3-way. I told Tae to be quiet first, and then Amanda answered the phone. Amanda had apparently taken the scenic route and was not out of the terminal yet. My nervousness was already at an all time high, and it skyrocketed when the noise began on Tae’s phone was noticed by Amanda. When Amanda asked if I had heard it, I hung up in her face. I called Tae back and told her to put her phone on mute. Then I called Amanda back and she thought that we had been disconnected. I could see her coming down the walkway and I got even more nervous. She saw me and hung up her phone. I kept mine on and in my pocket. I told Tae here we go and hugged Amanda. I immediately dropped to one knee and began my speech. I told her, “I told you a long time ago that courtship ends in two ways, marriage or friendship. I am choosing marriage, will you marry me?” I was about to laugh, because firstly I know how much she loves public displays of affection. Add to that as soon as I dropped to one knee, she continued to question me as if she didn’t know what was going on with the same repetitive word… What? What? What? Multiply that by the fact that she was rocking side to side like Martin Lawrence and hopping at the same time, while in her high pitched laughing voice (if you have ever made her truly laugh, you have heard it before). I finished my speech and continued to wait on bended knee as she began to cry. I reminded her that she hadn’t answered the question. Then she started with the, Are you serious? Are you serious? I said, “Baby, you still haven’t answered the question.” Which was followed by a Yes, with quick jumping up and down (if you have been to church, you have seen it before). After she calmed down I told her that someone wants to talk to you. When she got on the phone, she and Tae had a quick conversation where Tae told her that, she told her that she can keep a secret. She then contacted her mother and after them both cried together, she found out that her mother knew as well.
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