Spoiler Warning : Don’t scroll to the bottom or you will ruin the surprise!

I like to think I am a romantic dude. I don’t know for a fact that I am but I do know we all can use more practice. That said, now and then everyone hits one to the outfield. Maybe even out of the park.

Here is how it went down…

Lainey has always been a creative gal. I love that about her. So for Christmas of 2013 I decided to surprise her with her very first digital SLR camera. I guessed it would be a pretty nice gift in and of itself, but I didn’t feel like it was quite enough. It needed a little dose of ‘special’. So to add some pizazz I secretly got in touch with her cousin, and amazing photographer, Darby. Lainey has always been a huge fan and admirer of Darby’s work (darbyullyattphotography.com) so I thought it would be nice to package a couple private weekend sessions with Darby along side the camera. This turned out to be the perfect setup.

On Saturday, the first day of February, 2014 Lainey left to spend most of the day with Darby and to get to know her new rig. As curious as I knew Lainey could be I felt this would be the perfect chance to really surprise her. I don’t really recall what lie I told her about what I was doing that day while she was out, but whatever I told her she bought it. So, sometime in the afternoon I made my way over to her apartment with 36 long stem roses in one hand and a bag full of clear push-pins I had hot-glued (one by one) onto clear jewelry wire the night before in the other hand. I don’t recall how long it took, but I hung 35 roses from the popcorn ceiling of her little apartment. As I look back I probably thought at the time that my arms were trembling because of the shoulder workout. Now, in hindsight, I know it was because I was more nervous than I have ever been in my life.

After she called to let me know she was headed back to her place, I lied one more time and told her I was still at my place, I turned out the lights, lit 5 candles and laid the last rose next to the ring. Then I retreated to her bedroom to hide until she came in. When she did finally walk through the doorway, I heard her gasp and then watched her clasp her hands about her face and start crying. I walked out and helped her sit down making sure the ring was close by.

Whatever I said and however I sounded…it doesn’t matter. I asked her one very important question.

She said yes.

Home run. Game over.