We got engaged on December 10, 1996.

From the day I met Dan, I knew we'd get married, but we were both very cautious since we'd been in very difficult relationships in the past. Everything felt so right and so easy that it brought new meaning to the phrase, "Where have you been all my life?" We wondered why we couldn't have met 30 years earlier.

Dan did not propose in the romantic, surprising, sweep-you-off-your-feet style that I'd hoped for (I'm an undying romantic), but in this way:

About 3 weeks before Christmas 1996, Dan asked me, "What do you want for Christmas?" I answered, "I don't know. I got everything I need." Then he said, "Maybe we should go looking for rings so you can have one by Christmas." I said, "Dan, are you asking me to marry you?" He: "Well, of course. Me: "Well, there's no better time to go looking than now."

So off we went to the jewelry store after dinner. We stopped at the local mall but found nothing I liked. At a Service Merchandise, I found exactly what I wanted, a cluster of sapphires (sapphire is my birth stone) and diamonds in a marquise cut, a half hour before closing.

After we left Service Merchandise, I couldn't wait to get home. I wanted the moment to be a private (we are both basically private people) one to remember. I opened a bottle of champagne that Dan had received on his birthday. Dan opened the box and I was so anxious to hear the most romantic wording in my life...after all, I'd waited so long for this special man.

Well, after Dan opened the box, he gently took my left hand and put it on my finger...and just looked at me, speechless. After patiently waiting for those golden words from him, he went speechless on me. So I said, "Dan I never thought I would finally be as happy in my life as I am this very moment and, yes, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. We were always meant to be together."

He looked at me and smiled, and in his eyes there was a look as if I had read his mind word for word, and a sigh of relief and contentment.

I now have a unique remembrance of this moment. This made it all the more a true treasure.