I Proposed to Christi in Coconut Grove in Miami over Spring Break in March. Christi and I had picked out a ring a few days earlier, and Christi knew that the ring was not supposed to be done until Tuesday, March 7th. Her only disappointment was that she was not going to be surprised when I proposed because she knew that we had to leave Miami on Wednesday and since she wanted to get engaged before she went back to school, I would have to propose Tuesday night.

What Christi didn't know was that Monday morning, I had called the Jewelers and found out that the ring would be ready later on that afternoon. Being the sly one, I asked my mother to pick up the ring while Christi and I were at the beach that afternoon. I came home and my mother had picked up the ring and so I made up my mind that I was going to propose.

Remembering that the first time I told Christi that I loved her was on the roof of a building that overlooked the small town of Saratoga Springs, NY, I decided that the best place to propose would be on the roof of the Mayfair Hotel, a place that overlooked the touristy Coconut Grove. After dinner that evening, Christi and I, along with our friends Andrew and Jen went into Coconut Grove. Everyone knew what was happening except Christi. As we walked through the town, in and out of shops, up and down the streets, I became more and more anxious and nervous. Even though I knew that Christi would say yes, and that we already had her parents approval and basically a date picked out for the wedding, my heart was still racing like mad. We continued to go into other shops, and then I suggested we go to this really cool place on the top of the Mayfair.

As we headed over to the tall building, I could keep my mind on nothing except keeping my voice from stuttering and shaking as we casually talked. After all, I didn't want to lead on that something big was about to happen. She wasn't expecting a ring until tomorrow! I wanted to surprise her. We entered the building, and even though my parents had entered this hotel many times only to go to the pool deck, I was nervous, expecting four college kids to get stopped as we strolled through the lobby and on into the center of the hotel.

Andrew knew the plan that he and I had discussed earlier, "fake like you have to go to the bathroom and take Jen with you. Christi and I are going to go upstairs." Like clockwork, we walked through the hotel and Andrew and Jen peeled off. I don't even know if Christi realized they were gone until a few minutes later as we walked up the windy staircases and she said "Do Jen and Andrew know their way around?" I of course lied and told her that Andrew had been there before another time he was with me in Miami. Really, it was only half of a lie, because Andrew had been with me to Miami, but never to the Mayfair.

As we neared the top of the building, my heart began beating faster and faster. It was beating so fast, that I was absolutely positive that I was going to have a heart attack and that would be the end of the proposal. Luckily, that didn't happen in the next fifteen steps before the roof of the building. We stepped out onto the pool deck, on beautifully warm Spring night in Miami, and walked to one of the corners of the deck. I took Christi in my arms and held her close for a few seconds, but realizing that she was probably wondering what was kicking her in the chest (and she honestly could feel my heart beating), I kept it short and backed off. I started talking in stupid phrases, saying things like "hey, remember when..." and "oh yeah, remember when...", which clued her in to the fact that I was trying to get to a point that was evading me for the moment. The whole time I talked, I was playing with the ring case in my pocket, which I had taken along deciding that a ring in a heart-shaped box would be much harder to lose than a diamond ring in my pocket by itself. At one point, I was trying to open the box to make sure that when I pulled it out it would be rightside up, and I wouldn't open the box and have the ring fall out onto the wooden pool deck. As I fiddled, the box slipped out of my fingers and it snapped shut with a loud clap. I knew that she had to hear that noise from my pocket, but thankfully, she didn't say anything. I didn't know how the heck I was going to explain that one away.

I finally got around to "hey, remember the first time I told you I loved you?", which she did, and we thought about that for a second. I went on to say "hey, remember where we were?". And she of course replied with the correct answer, on a roof. I began my attack. I said, "well, that was the first time that I told you I loved you, and we were overlooking Saratoga. And now, here we are in Miami, overlooking my town, and so, I was just wondering...(I took a knee of course, as well as taking the ring our of my pocket, probably whispering a prayer like "please God don't let me drop this ring off the roof")...will you marry me?"

She was stunned and surprised as I knew she would be. She began to cry tears of happiness as I slipped the ring on her finger. She reached down, took my hand, and lifted me up off of my knee to hug her. As she took me close, she asked "I was wondering what the heck was wrong with your heart". I'm pretty sure that if anything was wrong with my heart before that, it was all better now...