The engagement story

On July 4, 2010, Robert asked me to move in with him.  At the time, I had one dog and three cats so it was obvious that moving into his apartment wasn't going to work.  So we started the search for our first home.  In December 2010, we closed the deal and moved in to the house.

One of my stipulations for moving in with him was that he would have to propose to me before his 40th birthday.  

Month after month went by and nothing.  We went on several romantic get-a-ways where I thought for sure he would pop the question, but he wanted to surprise me and keep me guessing.  The week before his 40th birthday he took me on another romantic wine country get-a-way.  All our family and friends were expecting him to do it that weekend, but I was skeptical.  It was too obvious and I didn't know how he would manage to "surprise me".  We had several lovely dinners and wine country travels, but there was no proposal.  We got home and I resigned myself to the fact that it was just not going to happen.

We sat down and started watching one of our weekly television shows, "Once Upon a Time".  About half way through I went to grab a bag of desserts that he had picked up on our way home from Napa.  Inside was this:

When I asked what it was for, he said it was the key to my Valentines Day present and presented me with this hand made heart shaped jewelry box.  Inside of the box was my great-grandmothers ring.

My initial response to him was "What is this?".  After laughing at me, he looked in my eyes and asked me if I would marry him.  And I said "yes!".