Written by Jodi

Sitting on top of a giant rock in the middle of Georgia with a smaller rock cleverly hidden...wait let me back up a bit...

After dating for 7 wonderful months, Steve and I headed south to Florida. He was going to introduce me to his family for the first time and we were going to celebrate the 4th of July with them. While we were there, Steve told me that he had to go out and meet an old colleague for an early morning breakfast on July 3rd. The real plan was for Steve to meet the family jeweler and pick out the perfect engagement ring. Steve and I had talked about marriage, but I had no idea that it was right around the corner.

Steve managed to buy the ring while we were in Florida together but he wanted to wait until we got back to Atlanta to surprise me.

According to Steve, he had this elaborate plan laid out so that I would be surprised when he actually popped the question. His plan was to surprise me every Friday night with fun plans for the evening so that on the night he proposed, I would think it was just going to be a regular Friday night surprise date.

Okay, this is where the giant rock and the smaller rock come into play...

Steve picked me up that night and we headed off to Stone Mountain, camera bag in tow. I didn't know that Steve had the ring box hidden in the bottom of the camera bag. Steve had never been to the top of Stone Mountain so we "decided" to take the gondola to the top to watch the sun set over the city. Steve explained that this was just the first adventure of the evening with more to come, one of which would be a really long adventure. I was racking my brain trying to think of what "adventure" he had planned - hiking down the mountain...dinner on the ferry boat...what could we do at night at Stone Mountain?

As we were sitting on the top of Stone Mountain talking and enjoying the beautiful view and sunset, Steve slowly slid around on one knee so that he was kneeling in front of me. Not realizing that his knee was scraped and bleeding from the granite below, he looked up to me and asked me to go on a lifelong adventure with him. He said, "will you marry me?" and presented me with the most beautiful diamond engagement ring.

I'm not exactly sure what happened next but I think I said something like "omigod, omigod, omigod, omigod…".

According to Steve, I was at a complete loss for words for several minutes, which is rare if you know me. Steve said that I just hugged and kissed him for a few minutes and then my eyes welled up with tears and I said, "Did I say yes yet?" I think he assumed I meant yes because he said that the tears of joy and all the kisses and hugs said it a thousand times over, "Yes".

As the sun set over the Atlanta skyline, Steve and I just hugged for a while and enjoyed one of many joyous and memorable events we plan to share in our lifetime together.

But the night did not end there! After I happily announced our engagement to everyone on the return gondola ride, we headed off to the next surprise adventure of the evening. I didn't think it could get any better!

I was so excited when we pulled up to the Starlight Drive-In. In bright lights, the marquis announced Finding Nemo was playing that night.

We parked the car and to my surprise, Steve had everything we could ever need for a picnic. He set up 2 lounge chairs with a blanket on each one, just in case it got chilly. He was prepared with a cooler filled with sandwiches, salads and cherries for desert. Steve uncorked a very expensive bottle of wine he had been storing for a "very special occasion" and poured it into the wine glasses to propose a toast, "To a lifetime of love and happiness together. Cheers!"

It was truly a wonderfully romantic evening. A beautiful memory we will both treasure for the rest of our lives.

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