Let me take you back three years ago, David and I had been seriously seeing each other since September 25, 2010 when we discovered I was pregnant, naturally the talk of marriage and our relationship came to reality.  At first we talked about just going to the JOP and getting married.  We even went out and bought wedding bands, I didn't have a need or a want for an engagement ring.  I'd have everything I ever wanted being his wife. 

Shortly after the purchase of the wedding rings David decided that even if our relationship was going a little backwards in the pattern of life he still wanted to give me all the traditions of love, engagement and marriage.  He called off going to the JOP and took me to pick out an engagement ring.  He had no idea what I wanted so we compromised on me picking three diamonds and three settings I liked.  No matter what the combination I would have been happy with what I got and he didn't have to worry for the next 50 years if I really loved my ring or not.

My ring, candles by our dinner table and my man looking amazing while eating dinner

That engagement ring, along with our wedding bands were kept in a small safe in my dresser at the time.  We were living in a two bedroom apartment that I shared with my roommate and knew we needed to find a place of our own to start our family.   My good friend lived in a owner occupied apartment building, he had a 1 bedroom available and we couldn't beat the rent so we decided to do it.  My only concession in all of this was that if David was going to propose that he do it before we moved into our first home together.  I didn't want to just be a pregnant girlfriend, I wanted to be his fiancee and wife!  He agreed and we scheduled our move in date for December 10, 2010!

About two weeks before our move out date David started telling me one of his friends was having a "fancy" birthday in DC and they wanted us to go.  Over the course of those two weeks he would remind me about it and how he needed to get himself a suit and to make sure I had a dress.  The date for the birthday party was December 3rd.  It was a Friday.  In the office where I worked everyone was talking about their weekend plans and I told them about the dinner in DC.  Everyone said "he's going to propose, Penny!".  I was like "no, it's just a dinner".  I was convinced of this because every day I checked the safe (which I don't think David knows still today) to see if the ring was there and on that Friday morning it was.  If he was going to propose he would have taken the ring, right?

To be 100% honest the restaurant we were supposed to be going to didn't look all that appetizing and being weeks pregnant my stomach was already sensitive so on the way home from work I stopped by Wendy's to get some food.  David arrived home about an hour after I did looking amazing in his suit.  Poor guy found me laying on the floor of our closet, eating chicken nuggets and crying because none of my dresses fit me! Talk about pregnant lady problems!

OYA, the restaurant we ate at before the proposal

My amazing man took me off the floor and said to put something on so we could go to the mall and get me a new dress.  As we went to leave I had already auto started my car because it was cold but David said "no, let's take this car".  It was a white Cadillac, "ummm...no I don't know whose car that is I'm not getting in it".  "BABE, I rented it, get in the car!" I still wasn't convinced he was proposing although I should have seen the signs.  To the mall we went, I found a dress and two girls in the dressing room helped zip me up and wished me luck.

Nothing was different, our conversation was not different, David didn't seem nervous or quiet.  There were absolutely NO clues that he was going to propose so I continued believing we were going to a dinner with friends.  Once we arrived at the restaurant he said "Okay, I lied.  It's just us for dinner"...WHAT? Okay, this is happening, he's going to propose!  Our table was right by the fireplace and candles were everywhere, I mean every cue that he was going to get down on one knee in front of a restaurant and propose but dinner came and went and nothing.  I was a little flustered at this point but I told myself, if he is going to do this, let him do it his way, don't push it.  After dinner David wanted to take a little drive, well that little drive turned into circle and circles around the DC monuments.

The Jefferson Memorial, David proposed to me on those steps

Finally, he pulled into a parking lot within walking distance to the Jefferson Memorial.  As he parked, he sighed with defeat and said "Okay, you have two options here.  I thought I could park at the monument but I can't, so I can either propose to you in this car in this parking lot or we can get out and walk to the monument and I can propose to you there like I had planned".  Without hesitation I took off my heels and put on my UGGS and said "I have to pee, so let's do this proposal how you planned babe".  While walking the entire 5 minutes to the monument I was so excited but I think 1/2 of it was the need to pee.  All the sudden David's grip on me gets a little tighter and he starts walking me a little faster.  Turns out like five guys just appeared behind us from out of no where.  David was worried they'd try to rob us and with my ring in his pocket he wasn't letting that happen.

Thankfully, the monument had bathrooms so after that we walked around looking at the monument.  We found ourselves at the stairs facing the river.  What he had to say is something that is purely between us.  I believe proposal stories are fun to tell but the true words shared are private between those two parties.  He slipped the finger on my ring as I was crying saying "yes".  Truly, to date at that time the best moment of my life!  I remember that when we got back to the car I tried calling my parents but at 11:27 PM at night they were definitely asleep.

The best part of that entire moment for me is that this amazing man who had only known me a short time was willing to take a chance on a girl in love and raise a family with her.  Since that day I've never looked back. Because of that moment I have everything I could have ever asked for and more, all because he asked me to be his wife.