Though Evie and I had discussed marriage and even what type of ring/stone she would like, I never really gave her any hint of what I was actually having crafted for her and when she would be seeing that adorn her hand. It just so happened that I had received the finished ring a week or so before this particular evening.

Originally, I had planned to go visit our friends on Mt. Washington after dinner and after the visit we would walk up to the outlook that looks out over downtown Pittsburgh. It would be all lit up on this clear evening, but this didn't work out in my favor.

I had to improvise!I had gone along with Evie's plan to "return the shoes to her friend" but deep down I was still trying to come up with my own plan. I was determined to propose that night! With that in mind, I grabbed the camera and placed in my coat pocket (the ring & ring box were hiding in the other pocket). And out the door we went...

On the car ride over to our friend's place, I looked out the passenger window and South Side, which was vividly bright that night. Curiously and without intention of anything I asked Evie to take a picture of it. Coincidentally, I had the flash turned off and when the picture came up on the screen, we were both amazed at the result. The lights from southside had blurred and made the city backdrop a canvas. This sparked a great idea for the rest of the night and hopefully in my favor. I encouraged Evie to take some additional pictures while still driving to our friends and she seem to be as enthralled with it as I was. This was good for me! This kept the element of surprise intact!

We arrived and visited with our friend for a short time and then started our trip back home. With the few pictures we had taken, I suggested we take a detour through South Side because of "how many lights there would be and that this would let us capture a bunch of other shots."

Like a charm, she went with it and we made our way down to South Carson St. - a street with many neon lights, stop lights, headlights, and reflections to make the picture taking into a photo shoot. We were able to get many interesting and intriguing blur pictures. At this point, I came up with my final plan - a plan that I knew I could control and pull off.

I suggested that our final destination be Station Square with convincing reasoning of "Bessemer Court has lots of lights and we'll be able to take pictures of downtown from there." Again agreeing, Evie continued taking blur pictures along the way. We finally parked (in the parking garage where we first kissed - romantic right?) and walked down into Station Square. Still taking pictures along the way, we made our way down to the walkway facing the river and downtown. It just so happened that this was one of the places that Evie and I spent time at on our first date. A place where she made it evident that she was actually encouraged by the fact that I had a daughter. A place where the sparks of flirting and love all originated at. What better place to propose. At this point, we were literally standing in the exact spot of our first date. We took a few normal pictures and then Evie noted that she was getting cold. Meanwhile... I'm shivering as well, but for a completely different reason. I was waiting for the perfect moment.

We started walking back to the car and I stopped to "tie my shoe." I had cleverly knelt down and like a magician pulled out the ring box with it almost immediately opening. There! I did it! I pulled it off! I made the most difficult drop to my knee ever (despite it only being something like 16 inches)! Now I could say everything I had intended to say.

To my dismay though, she just kept walking - literally about 15-20 feet before she noticed I wasn't by her side. As she turned around, she had to look a bit harder at what I was doing. There I was on one knee, waiting patiently. With every step away from me, I had felt my prepared nerves become more and more unsettled. She quickly shuffled her way back to me with a huge smile and a quick "Are you serious!?!?"

On the way back to me she had been able to slip off her grandmother's ring from the finger I intended to put a new ring on. With her hand now in mine, I prepared myself to make the best proposal ever! However, my mind had been running a marathon this whole night and I could not pull my thoughts together to say what I wanted. Instead, I blurted out that "I had a lot of things that I wanted to say, but can't remember them right now so could you let me know your answer so I can get out of this awkward position?" With a giggle she said "Yes!" and I got up and gave her a big hug.

With the night coming to an end, I was very content with the way the evening worked out since everything was improvised - even if I did momentarily forget my proposal speech.

P.S. I managed to pull my thoughts together the next day so Evie did get to hear all the things I had to say - just not the way it was originally intended. :-)