Best month ever? Quite possibly

June has been quite the eventful month and we still have more than a week. We started with my 28th birthday and for the second year in a row Kristi and I celebrated at a baseball game. We saw the Gwinnett Braves versus the Indianapolis Indians. While I took in traditional ballpark fare...


...Kristi enjoyed a veggie plate, and she raved about the mac and cheese.



One of the first times I thought she might be a keeper, we ate sunflower seeds together, and we did again on my birthday. I took home my customary souvenir cup, a great end to a great day.

The next big event of the month was our proposal/engagement.

The series of events began with conversations I had with Sam, Paul and Laura. Even though I had entertained the thought of proposing for around a year, it was those conversations that convinced me to trigger the process.

Sam volunteered to consult with me on the ring style and selection. We later went to America's Mart, a wholesale jewelry showcase in Atlanta. Paul offered some marriage advice, especially considering his wife, Emily, and Kristi are long-time friends and have similar personalities. Laura reminded me why I moved to Georgia and helped me
reset my long-term perspective.

With those conversations in mind, Sam and I went to the Mart to start shopping. I had Dobbie's ring (my maternal grandmother) and Kristi's grandmother's ring in tow to use for options in selecting the setting. But after looking at eight or nine settings, we decided that Dobbie's would be best. The setting I chose was obviously the best, both in what I knew Kristi preferred, and how it fit Dobbie's diamond. Sam tried to bite her tongue when she saw the ring I eventually bought, because she didn't want to say too much about it, or criticize another if I preferred another. I also learned a new term on the shopping trip: pave. The pave is a cluster of diamonds, in this case a wreath-like arrangement around the center stone. Dobbie's diamond is .53 of a carat, while the pave is .92. The ring is 18 carat white gold.

The next part after the purchase was the wait. I was told it would be able 10 days, because of the Memorial Day holiday and the owner going out of town. But it took two weeks and a day before I picked it up, a time frame that tested my patience. Much of that was the disappointment that my original proposal plan, Memorial Day weekend, wouldn't happen.

The toughest part of that time was all of the conversations I had with family and friends that I couldn't share with Kristi.

The two biggest were my conversations with Carole, Bruce and Ron.

When I brought it up to Bruce and Carole, at the end of dinner one Monday, Carole looked at me with a mouthful of food, and said, "Really?" with a big smile. Bruce only said, 'bout time' and immediately went to the basement to get champagne. After a glass, he encouraged me to get a second because, "this is your party," he said.

I talked with Ron one Saturday morning when he and Dawn were in town to visit. Because he's an early bird (before 7 a.m.) we had to go to a gas station to get coffee at that hour. It started out as small-talk conversation about Kristi's new car, and PhD. classes. By the time I could change the subject to proposing, we had pulled back into Kristi's neighborhood. So we rolled up to her door, and Ron said, "we better keep driving a while." So we just made a couple loops around the heart of the east side. Ron said that since we've dated, which began in September 2008, he always knew she was happy, but didn't know how I felt about things. "Now I do," he said. He then gave me some marriage advice, and explained why his marriage is successful.

So the weekend came for the proposal. Kristi had a baby shower in Rome on Saturday afternoon, and she went up Friday night to have a slumber party with some college friends. Saturday, we had a party with her co-workers to celebrate the end of a national conference they hosted.

But on Friday, I mentioned wanting to have a picnic. I thought that might make her suspicious since the only other picnic we've had together was when I asked her to be my girlfriend. Kristi then brainstormed possible locations, but I didn't tell her until Sunday that I had a place in mind.

Sunday, we drove up Highway 29, and she thought we were headed to Anderson, and that I was only going the back roads to throw her off. But when I pulled off at Lake Hartwell State Park, she thought, maybe he's just having a. romantic picnic. We had deli sandwiches, and she gave me a personality test she got from the conference. We had some strawberries and chocolate dip. But we put those back in the car to take a walk around the lake. Then we got back to the car to get them out and I told her I'd meet her at the picnic table, that I had an envelope of memorabilia from our relationship. I took out movie and sports tickets, church programs, eHarmony e-mails and other souvenirs. Her next suspicion was that the ring would be at the bottom of the envelope. But after I told her what I was looking for in a woman, and how it was shaped around my mom and sisters' traits, and how our families meshed, I got down on one knee and proposed.



She said yes!!!





The funniest part was how we alternated calls to each family on speakerphone in the car. Ron and Dawn were so anxious that earlier that day, Dawn told friends that we were engaged only to have Ron correct her. Bruce's first comment was, "old news, when's the first grandchild coming?" We relayed that to my dad, and he choked he was laughing so hard. The loudest response came from Kristi's friend Ansley, who belted out a scream that took several seconds.

It's been a great week, and one of the most interesting new things is that Kristi's appetite, notorious for needing something every two hours, has been virtually non-existent. Bruce said that's an expensive diet and that food is cheaper than diamonds.

We're looking forward to what's in store, and we're enjoying the journey.