When Zac decided to go to Berkeley and I decided to go to UCSD I was skeptical that things would last. Zac assured me that we would make it through and be together forever. Being the pessimist that I am, I did not believe him. But, he was right, and I have to say he told me so. We've been together for 7 solid years at the end of May.

Once I finally realized that Zac and I were going to end up being together forever it felt like it took him an eternity to finally ask me to be his wife. I mean it's easy, go buy a ring and just ask. I will admit that as time passed I started to get frustrated and wondered if he would ever ask me. What was he waiting for, he knew I would say yes?

Finally on Sunday October 22nd Zac decided to ask me to marry him. I had just gotten home from work and Zac told me he had a present for me. I got excited and a little nervous, but when he pulled out the box I knew it wasn't "the present". He told me to open it. It was a beautiful heart necklace. He told me something about still looking for the perfect ring and what not. I was a little disappointed that the gift wasn't "the ring", but I hid my disappointment. I did not want to act like a little brat and ruin the nice gesture. Zac told me to try the necklace on. I really did not want to. I fed him some line about the necklace not matching my other jewelry. He insisted that I try it on and I gave in. He told me to close my eyes and he would put the necklace around my neck. He put the necklace around my neck and followed me to the mirror. To my surprise, while my eyes were closed, he replaced the heart on the necklace with a huge diamond ring. I opened my eyes, saw the ring, and Zac nervously asked me to marry him. I said yes and the rest is history. Very clever that husband-to-be of mine. I thought I couldn't be surprised, and I would know exactly when the big question was coming, but once again Zac proved me wrong, and boy am I happy he did!!

There are really two phases of a proposal: the Show and the Preshow. Everyone knows about the Show, typified by the man getting down on one knee, with the ring peering out of the unclasped jeweler box, with sweat on his brow, matched drop for drop by tears from her eyes. However, only those that have actually proposed are aware of what I call the Preshow, the months of anxiety and failed timing that precedes the actual proposal.

It's the Ring, Stupid   Before you can propose, you need a ring, and not just any ring, you need the ring. In my hunt for the ring, the first step was education. I immersed myself in the jargon of the diamond and jewel trades. To illustrate just how deep into diamond specifications I got, I'll just say that I was walking into jewelry stores requesting loose diamonds by specifying, with tolerances, the actual angles of the finished cut. I was way past the traditional 4 C's (Cut, Carat, Clarity, Cost). My approach softened slightly after the manager of a Zales store took my aside and politely told me I was crazy.

After searching for some time, both in jewelry stores and online, it turned out that I had a friend in the diamond business. Well, more precisely, my dad had a friend in the diamond business, but that's what knowing people is all about. Linda, over at Sarah Leonard Jewelers in Westwood, set me straight about finding the best compromise between cost and quality for my pocketbook, and I was the proud owner of a diamond engagement ring a little while later.

Now What?   So I had the ring, now what do I do? The truth of the matter is, by the time I bought the ring, I already had the rest planned out. If you've read our story then you know that we were a couple for a long time. At some point Crystal went from 'girlfriend' to 'future wife'. You know when this happens when your friends' moms start hassling you about getting engaged (you know who you are). Needless to say, our relationship had reached a point where a proposal would not surprise anyone, Crystal knew it, and I knew it, and more importantly, I knew Crystal knew it. With this in mind, my motivation was to find a way to surprise her despite the expectation.

The Show   My plan to surprise her with a proposal required that I first convince her that no proposal was forthcoming. When I had purchased the ring, I also bought a matching necklace. I gave her the necklace one evening with the lie, "I still haven't found the perfect ring, but I wanted to give you this necklace as a token of our everlasting love." I then insisted that she wear the necklace. With the ring hidden in my hand, I carefully threaded the ring onto the necklace. When she passed by a mirror, I asked her to close her eyes while I put the necklace around her neck. When she opened her eyes, she recognized her engagement around her neck, and the rest is history.