The One Ring - May 3, 2007

So I had been planning on asking Jenneli to marry me for quite some time and a few months back I realized that we would be at the Taj Mahal. That seemed like a great place and so I spent a couple months before we left looking for a ring. A week before we left I had found a ring and had been hiding it ever since. Not only was it hard to keep the ring a secret but I was worried about losing it at the same time. Finally the day had arrived to give the ring a good home and end the butterflies in my stomach over the proposal.

I should add that I was pretty sure Jenneli had found the ring while repacking the bags before we left while I ran some errands. If she hadn't found it then there had been numerous opportunities since. I confidently assumed all was well and that she had had some time to think about it. When we got to Agra we dropped off our bags at the hotel and went straight to the Taj Mahal. It was very impressive and one of the best monuments to anything I've ever seen. Pranesh, who I had talked to a couple weeks before hand, was right, this was a great place for a marriage proposal.

After a few false starts of me getting ready to say something and Jenneli running off to look at something else incredibly interesting the moment finally came. Jenneli asked Brooke to take our picture. Originally I had planned to just privately ask Jenneli but I’m not one to pass up serendipity. Jenneli would have to stand there and Brooke could capture the whole event! So Jennli starts to pose like one does when getting a picture taken and I dropped to one knee and asked her. She first asked “are you kidding” which told me that she probably hadn’t found the ring and wasn’t prepared for the moment which made the whole event that much better. I assured her the moment was genuine and that the ring was real. That really made her turn red and I believe she lost the ability to speak at that point. After a few minutes she regained some ability to function and Brooke came up wanting to know what was going on and what all the pictures she had just taken was about! Jenneli haltingly explained and Brooke exploded with congratulations. I pointed out that I hadn’t really gotten an answer yet and maybe the congrats might be premature but Jenneli said “of course yes” and gave Brooke the ability to go ecstatic again and I could relax. It was a great moment and very memorable!

After the Taj Mahal we went to a marble dealer that had some beautiful inlayed marble and we picked one out together that we both liked and got it. I’m sure we paid way too much for it but it was beautiful and something to remember the event by.

Jaipur was also interesting though for me it was time to relax. It was a little strange hearing Jenneli talk about wedding plans… our wedding!