Russ and I met in college. We had some funny beginnings which included meeting on Valentine's Day, a radio show history, our first date being with his parents, and a summer spent in Colorado apart but together on weekends.  It is kind of crazy how things fell together. The story of the day we got engaged has a few little quirks that make it worth telling.


It was November 12th, 2004. The only reason I really remember the date is because it is the day before my brother's birthday. Russ and I had been dating for about nine months. We'd talked about getting married, and I suspected we'd get engaged sometime. Russ had asked my dad's permission. I'd told him that I wanted a white gold ring, and really that's it.

I lived in a suite of eight girls at college. There was always something crazy going on, and that day one of my roommate's boyfriends came to surprise her. All my roommates knew Russ and I would get engaged eventually, so to lure my roommate back to see her boyfriend, they called her and lied saying Russ and I got engaged and she needed to get back here to celebrate.  When she arrived back, all of us girls were sitting there with her boyfriend.



Poor clueless Russ was back at his rental house, telling his roommate he was going to propose to me today. He'd purchased the ring a few days before with the help of his parents.

A few hours later, Russ showed up at my suite to take me on a walk he'd planned. When he arrived, my roommates kept jokingly saying, "CONGRATS!!" To say Russ was confused is an understatement.

A couple things I remember about our walk was that Russ was wearing a puffer vest and sweater. I was wearing pink mittens with pigs on them. I could possibly see the bulge of the ring box in in Russ's pocket, but I wasn't going to let on that I knew what might be happening. We walked to the park in town that bordered the river. Russ walked me near a weeping willow tree. I don't remember the exact words he said, but Russ remembers him saying something about, "You make me a better man" and me replying asking him for specifics on how I do that. Oh silly me. Eventually he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes. :)



I remember walking back into my suite after we got back. My roommates truly thought the ring was fake. I'd called one of my roommates who was out shopping to tell her, and she dismissed it completely. The engagement was special, of course, but the funny events surrounding it make it more memorable.


One thing I will say is that the ring set Russ picked out is unique. I can say unique because I truly have never seen one even close to like it before. The black around the diamonds is antiquing.