The Proposal: Alex's side of the story

So, you've heard Renee's side of things, now it's time for the groom's version of our engagement story (sweaty palms not included).

First of all, I didn't have a particular site in mind where I would "pop the the question". I knew I wanted to propose on our first day in wine country, so we could savor the rest of the trip without that added pressure. Also, after going ring shopping together with Renee, I don't think there was too much suspense as to whether I would propose, but I did want to try to surprise her.

My first thought was that I should ask in a romantic setting (duh), e.g. high-upon a hill side, overlooking Napa valley. One of the vineyards we were going to visit that Saturday was Sterling, which is advertised as having a gondola ride to the tasting room. It sounded perfect. On closer inspection, however, I discovered that the Sterling winery was only located at the top of a hill no larger than a gopher mound, and that the gondola ride lasted about a minute. Not only that, but the wine was... shall we say.. sub par. 

So, I had the ring in my pocket, but it never made an appearance. On the way back down, Renee & I had to share a gondola cabin with two fire fighters from Texas, who were in Napa for a convention. Their wives were in the gondola in front of ours, and I distinctly recall the fire fighters telling the hapless Gondola operators to "make that one go faster". Anyhow, we all got to talking, and they asked what we were doing in Napa. I told them it was our 4 year anniversary, to which they replied "when did you get married, when you were 12?". All flattery aside, I had to admit that it was actually 4 years of "dating", and not our wedding anniversary. 

This confession brought on the inevitable: they turned to Renee and started asking her questions like: "What are you doing with this schmuck?" and to me "if she put up with you for 4 years, she might be a keeper! What are you waiting for?"

Oh, how badly I wanted to pull the ring out of my pocket right then and flash it in their smug little faces! My better judgement managed to kick in (did I mention the wine at Sterling Vineyards is mediocre? This fact alone may have saved the day!), and I restrained myself to comments like "oh, you know, soon!". sigh.

So, later that night, I did propose at our Bed & Breakfast, and the rest is pretty much as Renee described it. Needless to say, I was relieved when she said yes! The rest of the weekend was a blast, and now I have this story to tell :)

Oh, and if anyone happens to have a facebook directory of fire-fighters in the Dallas Ft.Worth Area, let me know, I'm dying to tell them how things turned out!