I can honestly say I've known I wanted to spend my life with Corinne from our very first date. For almost five years now, we have rarely been apart for more than a few days at a time. I remember the day when I was listening to her talk about marriage when it finally hit me all at once: What am I waiting for? I know I have already found the right person and nothing else really matters. It was so simple, and I knew I had made the best decision of my life.
Corinne has always claimed to dislike surprises. She tries to find out about presents and special dinner plans without fail. I knew she was going to try so hard to know in advance when I was going to propose. This only served to make me keep this surprise extra secret. I almost spoiled everything by leaving a mint from a well known local jewelry store out after I had been “hanging out with friends” all day. I have to thank our good friends Ro and Soc for covering for my mistake so quickly.
I had, in fact, been taking my great-grandmother's diamond and having it set in a simple platinum band. The night I brought it home and hid it away, Corinne wanted to have a serious talk about when we were planning on getting married and why I hadn't proposed to her yet. A week later, on our drive into Atlanta, the subject came up again. I finally resolved the matter by promising to ask my mom about the diamond before the weekend was over.
November 4th, 2004
I brought Corinne into Atlanta to visit friends and see a concert at the Fox that we had both been looking forward to. We stayed at my parent's house, and they knew all about my secret plan. I told Corinne that one of our friends had offered to bring us home after the show, so my parents dropped us off at the train station to head downtown. We met my cousin Ben for dinner at the Varsity where he snapped this last known photograph of Corinne without her ring.
After dinner, we walked a few blocks over to Peachtree Street and had a drink. We picked up our tickets at the box office and headed in. As we entered the historic Fox Theatre, I started to get nervous. Corinne wanted to use the restroom before the show so we headed down beneath the grand lobby. I found an area in the sitting room and told her to meet me there when she was finished. When she returned, I turned to her and got down on my knee.
I had caught her by complete surprise and she burst into tears of joy. She kissed me and hugged me and after a few minutes finally answered: Yes. Yes! Of course yes! We could hear the first band beginning to play so we gathered ourselves together and headed up to the theatre. I took her hand as we walked all the way down to the front row. We had a wonderful night watching some of our favorite bands and after the show I had a limousine waiting to take us home.
As we neared my parents' house, we were both surprised to see it lit up with twinkling lights. My parents had decorated the house and were waiting on the porch to toast us with champaign and chocolate strawberries. Their wonderful surprise was the perfect ending to our special evening.
We have since agreed that my big surprise was well worth the secret. We will always treasure the memories of that special night and thank all of our friends and family that helped make it possible.