Attention to Detail

by Erica
(Boston, Massachusetts)

My husband planned his proposal to take me by surprise, and to show how well he knows me.

He knows that I'm not crazy about diamonds, so he designed the engagement ring himself, with a garnet as the main stone.

To keep me from guessing what he was planning, he stole a ring off my finger while I slept to measure my ring size.

He chose to propose on the Spring Equinox to represent new beginnings (and to help us remember the date).

That day, he asked if I would take a walk with him that night, after he got out of class at 10 pm.

I agreed, and we went walking over a bridge that's one of my favorite places in the world.

When we got to the other side, he gave me a wrapped present and told me to open it.

"What's the occasion?" I asked.

He answered that he just wanted to give me a present.

When I opened it, it was a book called Dreams of Longlasting.

I'd read this book back in high school, and had told him before that it was my favorite love story.

I'd planned for years to read the book with the man I married. At this point, maybe I should have figured out what he was up to, but I didn't.

He handed me the box with the ring.

I couldn't see the ring well in the darkness, and didn't want to embarrass myself by jumping to conclusions, so I asked what it was.

"It's an engagement ring," he said. "Will you marry me?"

I was blown away that I'd been so slow to figure out what was happening, but I felt so cherished thanks to his incredible attention to detail.

I agreed, and we've been married now for a year and a half.