The whole day, I was hellbent on walking around campus after dinner. This was definitely a giveaway, but timing was key. Natalie, along with my mom, sister, and I, had a reservation for a nice dinner in downtown Auburn. The whole day I had been able to play it cool. I felt good and not a bit of nervousness came over me. As soon as we got to dinner, all the nerves that I had put off during the day hit me like a ton of bricks. I started talking less and less, eating smaller bites (this is very out of character), and became antsy. I could not keep my feet still and constantly found myself stretching my back. After dinner, we made our way to the lawn at Samford Hall. This is where the proposal would soon take place. On our way there, I started chewing gum (I thought this would be a good distraction.) Natalie, who has never seen me chew gum, pointed it out. Without thinking, I threw it into the street and then Nat pointed out that I probably just killed a bird. I was a nervous wreck. I started tripping on the sidewalk, talking less, and keeping my arms crossed behind my back. As we got closer, my mom slipped me the ring box. It had been hiding in her purse the whole evening. The box then went into my back pocket (this was one of the more strategic plays of the night as the box was very large and did not fit into a pocket at all). Once we made our way to Samford Lawn, my mom and sister wandered away as they knew what was about to happen. I had to position Natalie in a key spot so that the photographer (one of her best friends, Abigail) could get the shot. Once in position, the speech that I had prepared over the last few weeks seemed to disappear into a mental abyss. I had prepped something that gave a little run through of our relationship, our story, how much I loved her, and some fun stories in between. Unfortunately, when I turned to look into Nat’s eyes (the most beautiful eyes in the world), I short circuited. The words never made their way out. I said one line that made no sense and then a small part of my brain said, “screw it, get down on the knee and send it.” I knelt to the ground, pulled out the ring, and on the 8th day of June at exactly 9:00 PM, I asked the most amazing woman in the whole world to marry me. With some prompting, she eventually said “well, yes!” Turns out, I was not the only one who short-circuited. Her family, best friends, and my mom and sister would come out of hiding and we would all celebrate the night together.