After 6 great years of dating Colleen, I finally proposed to her. She new it was coming sometime soon, as we went browsing for rings together. But she didn't know when or how.

My plan was to ask her at the river walk along the Fox River in Waukesha. The spot has special significance since that is where we went on our first date in 2003. I had bought the ring several weeks ago, so I was just waiting for the right opportunity to go down to the river. First of all, the weather had to be nice. And since Waukesha is over an hour away, we had to be going there for some other purpose. It would have been suspicious if I suggested that we randomly drive an hour just to walk along the river.

So on May 2, we were going to be up in Milwaukee for a Cinco de Mayo party at Mel's. That got us fairly close to Waukesha, but not close enough. I wanted to make it look like a random spur of the moment decision to go down to the river. I suggested to Colleen that we visit her mom in Waukesha since Mother's day was the next weekend. When Saturday came along, the weather was beautiful. This had to be the day.

I spent the morning and early afternoon doing yard work, Colleen fell asleep watching a movie. Needless to say we didn't leave until much later than we originally wanted to. I had called Colleen's mom earlier in the day to reveal the proposal plan and for her not to worry if we didn't get there until a little later. She said to take all the time that I needed. Right before we left, Colleen got the mail, and there was a small, hand addressed envelope for me. I opened it in front of her, and it was a thank you card from Kay Jewelers. I quickly hid it, but it was too late, she already saw it. A foreshadowing of events to come?

The only part that made me nervous was whether or not I could convince Colleen to go down to the river. We will already late to her parents house. When we arrived into the Waukesha area, I made a comment about how nice the weather was, and how we should take advantage. I suggested the river walk. Her immediate response was NO. "We don't have enough time." Then she went on to say, "Unless you have something for me..." as she brushed her hand over my right pocket. Little did she know that I actually had the ring in my left pocket. There was a moment of silence. Then I said, "Maybe we should go down to the river." She was totally on to me, but there was no turning back. I had to do it.

We parked down by the river and got out and started walking. There was a specific part of the path where I wanted to do it, but it was on the other side of the river. We had to walk down to the bridge. I didn't realize how far down the bridge actually was, so it turned into a much longer walk than expected. It was fairly breezy outside, which provided some Marilyn Monroe moments for Colleen, who was wearing a skirt. On our way to the bridge, we passed a wedding party who were taking pictures down by the river. Another foreshadowing event?

When we got to the other side of the river, it was much less windy. Me and Colleen talked and joked around just like we would on any other day. It made me much less nervous about what was going to happen. When we finally got to a good spot on the path with no one around, I stopped and turned towards her. She knew what was about to happen, and immediately began crying. I said my little spiel, got down on one knee and popped the question. The answer was yes.

The day couldn't have gone more perfect. It went down exactly how I had pictured. And now to plan the best wedding ever!