Joanne and Eric

Posted Monday, June 29, 2009 1:02 PM

I thought that had a lot of sentimental value. I really didn't know which one would be better, so I figured that I’d bring the ring to Paris, and if the opportune moment presented itself, I’d do it. If not, I had a backup plan to use the bus stop.
 
Back to Friday night in Paris. Somehow, we got on the topic of our future (again) and she flat out asked me what I thought of us and what direction I saw us going. This was it. This was the moment that I had been waiting for. She gave me the PERFECT chance to do it, but I didn't want to do it in that restaurant. So, as I was debating in my head what to do, I didn't say anything. Apparently, when a girl asks you where you see your future together and you don't say anything, that’s less than an ideal way to answer the question. I managed to pull my thoughts together enough to tell her that I love her and that none of the other girls that I’ve dated in the past could even compare to her, hoping that would tide her over for the time being. It worked.

After that, I decided that the top of the Eiffel Tower was definitely where I wanted to do it. So as to not arouse her suspicions, I let her pick everything that we did over the whole weekend. I figured that there’d be NO WAY we’d spend a weekend in Paris and not go to the Eiffel Tower, so I thought I was pretty safe in just letting her lead the way, and I’d be ready because I’d have the ring with me at all times. That almost backfired as well. Because it was so cold, there were a few times that she hugged me and tried to put her hands into my jacket pockets. I had to very subtly get her hands out of there before she felt the ring box.

On Saturday, we took a bus tour of the city. After the tour, she wanted to go to the Monet museum. After we finished, it was about 6:00 p.m. and we had a very nice surprise when we walked out of the museum: sun! It was the first time we had seen blue sky and sun since we got there. So, she said that we should go to the Eiffel Tower. Of course, I agreed.

We got there and got in line to take the elevator to the top. I looked around and thought that there was a very good chance that we could be at the top right at sunset -- I couldn't have planned it any better if I tried to. Unfortunately, there were a few forces at work against that idea. The line was very long to get to the elevator. There was also no way to get directly to the top of the Tower. There was an elevator to the second deck and then another one from the second to the top. We waited for about an hour to get to the second deck and the sun hadn't quite set yet, so I still thought that I had a chance to get the sunset at the top. Well, the line to get on the elevator on the second deck was even longer than the line on the ground. It took so long, not only did we miss the sunset, but as soon as it got dark, the rain started. Then it turned into hail. I was looking around and thinking that this was definitely NOT how I had pictured what was about to happen. But then I thought about it and rationalized that I had seen a million sunsets; I don't see a hailstorm all that often.

We finally made it to the top of the Tower and now it had turned into a full-blown snowstorm. We walked around for a little bit looking at the city. She hugged me and said that this was perfect. I asked her if she’d like for me to make it better. She looked puzzled until I got on my knee and pulled out the box and asked her to marry me. She was shocked and just nodded her head. I put the ring on her finger and got up. It all happened just that fast. It wasn’t how I had imagined it going, but I was cold, tired, wet and hungry, so I just wanted to get out of there. I got up and hugged her, but then I pulled away and said, "You did say yes, didn't you?" She cried a little and confirmed that she had said yes.