The year is 2010. It’s ‘Music in the Parks’ weekend, and us keyed-up high schoolers are let loose in Busch Gardens. I’m gearing up to ride the Griffon, with its 200 foot and 90 degree drop, and I'm changing my mind every 30 seconds. My friends keep egging me on- “Don't worry, you're gonna be fine! It’ll be over so quickly!” Some kid in our group that I don't know well (I think his name is Justin?) ambles over. I’m expecting some more encouragement. Instead, he says, “Man, I hope you don’t die.” I stare at him. “I’ll pray for you.” My staring turns into glaring. Who does this guy think he is?!? I get on the dang roller coaster just to show him up. It’s 2 minutes of anticipation and dread, 30 seconds of heart-falling-to-the-bottom-of-my-stomach, and then it’s over. But then again, it’s also just the start.

Uncertainty. Only one thing was quite certain – I knew I wanted to marry her for a while. I was even fairly confident that she would say yes. We’d been dating for almost ten years and over the years, the topic of marriage had been brought up a few times but quickly dismissed. I actively avoided talking about marriage other than to acknowledge it as a possibility, maybe because I wanted my proposal to be a surprise. But we knew we were long-term and we were doing long distance for a reason. Okay now back to uncertainty. Pretty much everything else about the proposal was uncertain. I started looking at engagement rings in November (with a few friendly nudges from my mom). Since I knew I wanted to marry Megan, having a ring was not a bad idea. But I still had no idea when and how I would propose. It took about 3 weeks to decide on a ring (so indecisive) and then I went to get her parents’ blessings. I told them I wasn’t sure when or how I was going to propose. I assured them that we were likely a bit young for marriage, and so we’d probably be engaged for a few years before getting married (hahaha). There was uncertainty in our near future with Megan’s residency in terms of location though, and I definitely wanted to lock it down before that. We had a Europe trip planned between Christmas and New Years, including visits to Barcelona, Paris, and London. This trip was planned months ahead and we were both really looking forward to it because we don’t travel much. (Vacation was always really hard to align between her med school and my work). Our main objective: find delicious food. We had reserved one fancy lunch in Paris - Le Cinq at the Four Seasons Hotel. I had dreamed of a full course meal in Paris. Less than two weeks before we left, I still had no proposal plans whatsoever. Originally, I dismissed the idea of proposing on our trip because it was too soon and I had just started thinking about proposing. One evening, I suddenly had a thought. (read on)

I called the Four Seasons Hotel to see they had any rooms available and explained to them that I was thinking about proposing to my girlfriend. I knew this restaurant was going to be really fancy, but didn’t want to propose in public. They were super nice, but they were booked for the holidays and could not guarantee a room for us. Melanie, the person I was speaking with, did say to call back on the day of to see if any room became available. Disappointed, I started thinking of other ideas but to no avail. I brought the ring on the trip just in case. It was difficult hiding it from Megan, and also trying to not lose the most expensive thing I’ve ever owned. We arrived at Paris in the evening, excited for the next day. We were going to see the Eiffel Tower and then have the most elegant lunch of our lives. While Megan was showering that morning, I stepped out to make a quick call. I called the hotel and asked for Melanie. I couldn’t believe she remembered me. Even crazier, they had a penthouse suite available and were going to let me to propose there before our lunch reservation at Le Cinq. I was shocked. Melanie gave me her phone number and we began texting about the proposal plan. The nonexistent plan that I now had just a couple hours to concoct. Oh my. (read on)

The plan began to unfold. Our Eiffel Tower reservation was at 9:15am, and our Le Cinq lunch reservation was at 12:30pm. I told Megan we were going to need to get to Le Cinq by 12pm because I had to take a “work call.” But not to worry. I had so thoughtfully scheduled a tour of the hotel for her so that she could keep busy while I was taking my call. She balked at the idea- she did not want to go on this tour. I started panicking inside a little bit. She HAD to go on this tour so that I could go set up a proposal spot. I texted Melanie and told her that Megan may be resistant to going on the tour and pleaded for her help. We arrived at the Four Seasons at last. I went to the front desk and Melanie came over to greet us. A second hotel staff, Sarah, was in on it and came over to ask if I needed to take a call in their conference room. I didn’t give Megan a chance to react and honestly just bolted and left her with Melanie. Megan went along with it. I went straight to the penthouse to set up my camera. I wanted to get the best angle of the proposal with the Eiffel Tower in the background. They even provided a bottle of champagne for us (so incredibly nice). Once I was set, Sarah radioed Melanie to give the signal. She brought Megan to the penthouse suite. I greeted her at the balcony. We looked over the skyline. I got on one knee. The hard part was over. And I was perfectly content to see the utter confusion on her face.