Well, I did it! I asked Whitney to marry me. Yesterday I picked her up on her birthday, as we had a date to visit with her friends in Portland, Maine. With big plans of drinking ahead of us, Whitney did not appreciate me “accidentally” taking the wrong road, and knew something was up when I pulled into the tennis courts where we had our first date. I reassured her I was just going to give her her present because she would not be able to wait. I had wrapped an elaborate painting I made of her being really excited as I proposed. Where the ring box on the canvas was, I cut a slit and slid the real ring box through. I took the painting out of her hands, got down, said my speech.

And as I said the last line, I flipped the painting around, where the ring box was already open, with the ring presented there for her, and big “Will you marry me?” letters on the back. She accepted, although seemed to be in disbelief, and there is much happiness all around.