Valentine's Day and the proposal.

I am not a romantic. I love romantic things, I recognize it when I see it, but when it comes to making romantic plans, I just draw a big blank. So this year, I toiled to come up with a really sweet and romantic gift. Mind you I have already come up with is Father's Day and birthday plan for this year, but Valentine's kept getting closer and closer and I had nothing. Thank goodness for me, I have a romantic fiancee. Yes fiancee! Let me tell you the story.

So the daycare has a special Valentine's event for the kids were they stay at the center until 10 pm. They do dinner and movies and what not with the kids the Friday before Valentine's so parents can go out and have a romantic night out.

Tom seizes this brass rings and signs the kids up on Thursday and tells me that he wants to go to a really nice restaurant. We plan to use this night as our Valentine's day. Tom then ups the ante when I ask him want he wants by saying, "I want a unique gift that proves to me that you know me better than anyone else."

All those who don't have a gift or a plan, please raise your hand. Feeling pressure? No. I can admit when I am just sunk.

So Friday my focus is I HAVE to get a present. Most of the morning is spent at a corporate awards banquet where I win a lotto for some roses. BONUS! I am on my way to a Valentine's gift. So I chatter all morning my friend, Jen, about what should I get him? Jen suggests lingerie and I quickly throw that out. I want a serious present. On my lunch break I photoshop a picture and have it printed and framed. I get some Godiva chocolates and tada. Done. I have the spread covered. Flowers, chocolates and a photo. I even printed a little poem and made a card. I am feeling pretty good at this point.

I race home to shower and wrap his present before we go to dinner and I walk in the door to find a letter from Tom. It says that he has boarded the dogs, the kids are spending the night with Jen and that I need to pack an overnight bag that he has reservations for us in a couple of hours.

Thank the heavens that no ones was there to see the blank look on my face as my mind races to process this information. I never saw this coming. Heck, I had been talking to Jen all day and she never once slipped up and spilled the beans. At the same time, I'm thinking that this seemed a little much for a Valentine's present. I mean I was thrilled with just the romantic dinner. I look down at my chocolates and card and flowers and frame and think, "CRAP, I should have gotten the lingerie!!"

I race upstairs to wrap Tom's present and hope that I have enough time to start packing before he gets home and we need to leave. Enter Tom, stage right.

I rush downstairs to greet Tom and let him know how blown away I am and he greets me at the door with my favorite Starbucks. This man had me at "hi hunnie."

He patiently waits while I run around and try to gather myself. He puts my bag into the car and I notice that his suitcase is already in there, but there isn't a gift bag. So is the hotel my gift? No gift means more than just a Valentine's present. And now my mind is really racing. Here I am in my casual work clothes, grungy and I am pretty sure I smell sweaty from all of the running around and I am on they way to a romantic night out that could to turn out to be something more?

He drives us downtown to a little hotel in Harbor Town called the River Inn. There is a restaurant downstairs, a roaring little fire in the front lobby and they pour us drinks while we checked-in. We go up to our room and it was precious. It felt less like a hotel and more like a bed and breakfast. There were a dozen gorgeous red roses on the table and a plate of chocolate covered strawberries. It was picture perfect!

Before going to dinner, we agreed to exchange gifts. By now I am really hating this stupid picture I got him, when from his suitcase he pulls a gift bag. It is hard to explain, but in that instant I went from feeling dumb about my present to dumb about turning a really romantic night out into some excuse to worry. He pulled all the stops out for me and here I am ruining with all the worrying and making myself crazy. I resign myself to enjoying the moment. Tom planned everything and the least I could do was appreciate every minute.

He opens my present and smiles. It is us.

We love each other as though we were kids. Without the fear of the pain that we have been through before. Seeing only how this could last forever and how nothing could come between us. The chocolate was over kill because the strawberries along would put us in a diabetic comma.

I open my gift bag and I to find a brand new red 12 mega pixal digital camera. LOVE! Made only more prefect by the fact that in my rush to get ready, I left my camera at home. Tom knows me so well.

We sit on the side of the bed, our feet dangling and then he gives me a card. Inside he wrote, will you be my Valentine forever? I smile up at him, said yes and kissed him. And he pulls a white jewelry box out of his pocket and asks, "Then will you be my wife?"

"Oh yes."