Part I - The June Questioning

There was Cottage Inn Pizza and a dozen red roses (which she missed at first!) when Beth came home June 2, 2004 after work. The busy summer drum corps season was about to set in, and she was grateful that Dave was providing dinner right when she got home (the pizza had become a favorite since moving to Ann Arbor). After a roundabout discussion involving getting out a copy of our lease and discussing legal hoopla (how unromantic!), Beth finally settled into dinner, and Dave finally got down to it - on one knee, that is. He opened a ring box, and presented her with a shiny keyring from some measuring spoons, and asked if she would marry him.

See, Dave had planned on having a little more time to ring shop, but he got a call suddenly to play a gig on the Queen Mary II for several weeks, and Beth was taking off for the summer tour, so time was of the essence. Although they had discussed the possibility in the past, the timing of Dave's proposal caught her completely by surprise. Her subtle, well-crafted response to Dave's question was, "FOR REAL? For real? Really? For REAL?" (which was to be interpreted as "Yes!" - so much for the college education.) It really was a very romantic moment. For real.

They went the next day to go ring shopping, with hopes of using some heirloom diamonds from the Schindel side of Beth's family, and realized it was a much bigger project than they could accomplish in a few days. Maybe next month. But in the meantime, they planned to keep the news tightly under wraps - no family, no friends. That would come later!

Part II - The July Tour

So Beth and Dave plan a mutual "vacation" in the summer where they can meet back in Ann Arbor after crusing and touring for a few weeks. In a couple days, they found a local jewelry store that was happy to help them design a custom ring using the heirloom gems. But it would take a couple weeks for a wax prototype, and a couple weeks after for the ring itself. In the meantime, they still kept things hush-hush (this included not saying a WORD to Beth's family in New York during a birthday/reunion celebration for her Grandmother. Do you know how HARD that is?!!!)

Beth goes back on tour, and the two of them coordinate an elaborate scheme to announce the engagement to the parents. It turns out Beth's drum corps tour went from Indy to Iowa on one weekend, just when her parents would see the show in Indy and Dave's parents were visiting his sister and brother-in-law in Iowa. So Dave drove, trained, and bussed to Indy (for real!) to meet with Beth, worked in the souvenir booth with her all day, and then had dinner with her parents and grandparents that night. It was Beth's job to break the news at this meeting, and she finally managed to sneak it in the conversation just before the check came. Everyone was surprised - and elated! After a brief trip to the ladies room for Beth and her mom, they ordered a round of dessert (of course!) and proceeded to smile a lot for the rest of the evening.

But the best part was yet to come! The tour buses were so full that night that Beth and Dave had to make the entire trip from Indy to Iowa in the back of the souvenir truck (thanks, Viv!) and managed to make it to Iowa in time for breakfast - but not before cursing all the bumpy roads and tolls between IN and WI! Beth had already set-up dinner plans with Dave's family, who had also planned on attending the drum corps show that night - but they weren't expecting Dave to be there - SURPRISE! This time it was Dave's turn to break the news over dinner - and once again, the check was on its way before he got the words out. And, once again, another round of dessert was ordered (yeah!). Dave managed to squeeze back to Indiana in his family's van that night, and Beth took off for the rest of tour.

The note led the two of them to the next locale, a favorite produce market of the couple, where they met Jeremy, who immediately got down on one knee, read another riddle, and proposed to Beth with one of those delicious candy ring pops. Then they all packed in the car and went to the next location - a fountain on the University of Michigan campus. Brian was waiting there, and - you guessed it - got down on one knee, proposed, and gave Beth a mood ring (you can only guess what color it was by then!) The last riddle was spoken, and they (finally) made it to the famous Nichols Arboretum, where Beth and Dave had visited when they first moved to Michigan.

She knew what was coming, and there in the distance was Dave, looking dapper (since he knew this was coming!) and leaning against a tree. Providing some entertainment for the passers-by, Dave got down on one knee (again) and read his own poem (which will remain private!) and proposed to Beth, "for real" this time, and put the new ring on her finger. She actually managed to say "Yes!" this time, but not before Dave's friends jumped in again with a top ten list of reasons why she should say yes (although Beth almost changed her mind, as she was rather enjoying the tasty ring pop from Jeremy). All this proposing had left them starved, so they headed over to - yep - Cottage Inn Pizza to celebrate. The process was finally complete. (Almost.)

Postlude - The September Outing

You may have noticed that Beth and Dave were sticklers for telling people in person about their engagement - so Beth made the rest of her family wait the longest. The McDonald's have an annual "reunion" over Labor Day weekend, and they pretty much managed to keep the secret until then (or so they think). This was the beginning of "wedding talks" and Q&A (mostly Q) about non-stop wedding stuff - and it hasn't let up since. They decided to have the wedding a year later - finally ending one crazy rollercoaster ride and beginning another - hang on!