Lovanna and Nimo

Posted Tuesday, October 20, 2009 4:46 PM

My fiance, Nimo, planned the surprise of a lifetime when he decided to propose. I never saw it coming, since it was all under the guise of my sister's birthday, when we had all planned to go out to dinner and then to the annual spring concert at our church. Afterward, we were all going to Gallery Hop -- on the first weekend of each month, every boutique and gallery in our area stays open into the evening. It had been forever since I had gone and was very excited when my sister wanted to go too.

After dinner, we all rushed over to the spring concert performed by our dear friends, Jeff, Ian, and company. They’re so talented! Despite the weather reports of 100-percent rain, there wasn’t a drop. The weather was gorgeous and I invited all our friends from the concert to head over to Gallery Hop. My sisters were in a rush, and I attributed it to them wanting to catch a specific gallery before it closed, and then head home.

We all arrived at Paul Palnik's gallery, which features black-and-white cartoon drawings. Nemo pulled me over to a drawing called "Judgement" and said it was his favorite. Then my sister and I continued looking at the artwork, and she pointed out one she liked. While I was looking for the one she was talking about, something that looked like my name in cursive caught my eye. I half-turned toward where I thought my sister would be, saying, "I think I see my name on here..."

That's when I noticed that my sister and all my friends were standing around me in a semicircle. I did a double-take and then turned to see Nemo on one knee with a diamond ring held up toward me. He was babbling something, but in my shock, I only caught a few words, including, "I told you I'm not wasting your time. You would make me the happiest man in the world. Will you marry me?" At this point, I was stunned. We had been together for so long, and I had argued with him so many times about wanting to know whether our relationship was going to move forward or become stagnant. I had sort of given up hope that this day was ever going to happen. My thoughts were a jumble of shock and wonder. The jubilation did not come out correctly -- I asked, "Are you serious?"

Everyone started to laugh. Tears were flowing down my cheeks, but I only cried for about a minute. Someone said, "Um, you might want to say something soon." That's when I nodded, yes, I would be his wife.