I had a suspicion that something was going to happen that night - well, kind of. My dad and my stepmom were hosting a BBQ while Sean and I were in town for a couple days. My dad suggested inviting Sean's family, so it would be less stressful on us trying to see everyone in 3 days. The main reason we drove to Tennessee from Florida was my brothers being home at the same time - Kevin packing up his stuff and leaving for Oklahoma to live with his girlfriend and David coming home from a long deployment. 

All of Sean's family agreed to come to the BBQ and we had a great turn-out. I kept thinking if he would have planned on proposing, then he would have done it early. "well, maybe now after dinner.." - still nothing. When I moved on to dessert and had my face stuffed with chocolate cake - he decides to take my hand and get down on one knee. His nervousness was adorable. I could not completely repeat anything he said but it brought tears to my eyes. The moment went by so fast and it felt like I was standing next to us watching it from a different angle. I wanted the ring on my finger so bad, I gave him the wrong hand - lol! 

It was a precious proposal, which I was able to spend with most of our families and close friends. Simple and so thought through! I found out he even called and asked not only my dad, but also my brother's for permission of asking me to marry him. I think he did very well. :) (not to mention I find myself staring at the ring every day!)

          After years of dating Vanessa and people constantly asking me when we were gonna get married, I finally decided that it was time and she was the one. We dated for three years long distance while I was in Italy and she was in Germany for a year then North Carolina for the next two. Finally, we were able to move into a nice apartment together when I got stationed in Florida and see each other everyday. Having seen so many young people, in the military especially, get married early and without knowing one another for very long, only end in bitter heartbreak and eventual divorce, I wanted to make sure that our passion for each other was just as strong while living together as it was in the long distance portion of our relationship. There were rough times at the beginning, but we worked through it and our love only grew and grew.

          I finally decided that I wanted to be with her for the rest of my life. Now the only question...how do I do it? For weeks I constantly dreamed of lavish and romantic ways to pop the question that would have rivaled most romance novels. After thinking on this for some time, I realized that I didn't need to make a big gesture, but instead, have it be thoughtful and true, because in the end she would love it no matter how I proposed to her.

          As it turns out, her brother was going to be returning from his first deployment with the U.S. Marine Corps around the same time that her other brother was going to leave Tennessee to live in Oklahoma. So her dad decided to have a big barbeque for the whole family with sister coming over from North Carolina so that all the siblings could be home together for at least one day. I knew that this would be the perfect opportunity to make my move. I decided to be a little old school (or in my opinion, traditional and respectful) and call her dad to ask him for his permission to ask her hand in marriage. He was greatly appreciative of that and gladly gave me his blessing and even invited my family to the barbeque so they could all be there for our big moment. I also decided to call her brother because I knew how close they were to each other and I wanted him to know that I was a man that deserved her love. He, not as enthusiastically, said yes as well.

          When the long awaited day was upon us, I was nothing but a ball of nerves and anticipation, trying to hold it all together as to not give away hints to my intentions. I suspected that she knew something was up, but I tried to keep that in the back of my mind and just focus on the task at hand. After we had all eaten and everything was starting to wind down a bit, I decided to do the deed. I asked everyone that was outside in the back yard if they could come inside for a moment so all could be present for this. Once everyone was inside, I saw her. She was the most beautiful women stuffing chocolate cake in her mouth in the world and I wanted to make her mine forever. I took the desert from her and sat it on the table ( I don't think she liked that). Then I grabbed her hands, looked her in the eyes and completely messed up saying my one true love's name. My voice cracked like I was a 12-year-old boy all over again. Luckily she laughed at that and so did everybody else, which completely calmed my nerves and gave me a chance to calm down and continue with no faults. I told her how much she meant to me and how much I loved her. Then I got down on one knee, pulled the ring out of my shirt pocket and asked her to marry me. She said yes, but I think she was just as nervous as I was because she gave me the wrong hand and neither one of us noticed it until my mom said "put it on her left hand, Sean." Oops...oh well, it was over and I no longer had a girlfriend, but instead, and incredible fiance.