My side of the story

Indeed. I had to work extremely hard to pull the wool over Melissa's eyes for this one. It took every last bit of experience I have ever had from magic in the art of lying to pull it off.

It started off as we went looking for rings just to give me the idea of what Melissa wanted. We never really planed to pick the exact ring together. We went to several places and found quite a few ideas, one or two in particular that she liked way out of my budget. We decided to keep looking. Ending up at a far nicer jeweler than the previous lot, we again expected to just find more ideas. I was wrong. As soon as Melissa had the setting on her finger and the lady dropped the perfect blue-glistening diamond into it, the looking was over. Just the look on Melissa's face told me that nothing we had seen could replace this ring now. Funny enough, the price tag fit too. A little more than I wanted to pay, but well within my max.

A couple weeks later, Melissa informed me that she had taken her parents in to see the setting. While there, the lady told her that someone else had been looking at it. As soon as I heard this, my mischievously deceptive magic-minded brain came to life, working through perhaps the most complex illusion I had ever come up with. Over the next few days I crunched numbers and came up with a considerable down payment.

I went into the jeweler to get a final price quote and to talk about payment plans. I told them that I was 99% sure that I would get the ring, and was just waiting for more cash. Before I left, I had placed a deposit on the ring and had both the setting and the diamond pulled from their normal places to my special little envelope in the safe. The hard part started here.

On the way to the jeweler, I received a phone call informing me that my dog had passed away back home. It was not a good start to that day, but the extra emotion lended perfect to the deception that evening. At Melissa's that night, I acted extremely sad (for I was.) I played out the horrible day act as best I could. I soon asked Melissa how important that exact ring or diamond was to her. I then proceeded to break the news that the person who had been looking at the ring had taken the setting but a different diamond, but someone else had selected our diamond as well. We would be able to order in a new setting of the same type, and would have to select a different diamond, one that didn't sparkle blue, when the setting arrived. I told Melissa that I would go in and order the setting in a couple weeks when I had the cash. The very next day I was in the jeweler's again, putting my down payment on it, setting up my payment account, and getting it sized. 2 days later, I had it in my very hands.

As we prepared to travel to SD, I "went to order the ring," instead just doing homework in the JCP break room. I tried to tell Melissa that they might not be able to get the setting in, which was a mistake. The high emotional tie to the ring caused a very undesirable reaction from Melissa, and I had to play my cards right the next several days, creating a believable story with believable information. "Well, the manufacturer should have some of those rings available in the next week or so, we will know as soon as the wholesaler gets them. The jeweler is going to call me as soon as they find out for sure." Eventually, a couple weeks before SD, I informed Melissa that the ring was on it's way and would take 3 to 4 weeks, plus time to select the diamond and time to set it and resize it. She had it worked out in her head. When we got back, it would be about one week before I went in to get the ring, then a week or two for the rest of the stuff. As she sat next to me on many occasions with this idea in her head, I would grin, thinking about the shiny ring in my pocket or backpack, inches from Melissa on countless occasions.

The South Dakota trip soon came. My illusion had worked. Melissa, having previously thought that I might propose in SD, had talked herself out of that idea because of my charade. The Saturday of our trip came. We went for a walk. I had been working at the idea of a proposal to completely catch Melissa off guard for weeks. I enlisted the help of the magic community for ideas and a friend of mine came up with something spectacularly simple and perfect. In the park, after walking around and playing on the swings, I pulled Melissa off to a picnic table to show her a magic trick. This is something that happens often. I pulled my cards out and took them out of their steel clip. I pulled the cards from their tuck case and placed them in the clip, explaining that this trick didn't need the cards, just the case. As I showed Melissa the empty box, I, like any other magician would have done, secured the ring from my pocket and held it in what we call a finger palm, essentially holding the ring in my hand while making it look like my hand was empty. I took the box and quietly dropped the ring inside as I asked Melissa to think of a happy thought. It didn't take a mindreader to know what her thought would be. I shook the previously empty box so Melissa could hear the new something inside, and poured the box's shiny contents into my open hand. I dropped to my knee, and the rest was history.

I have never been called a booger so often in my life as during the 20 minutes after I gave her the ring. I had to confess my devious sins, explain that this was the original setting and diamond, and had to prove it by taking the ring into the sunlight to see it's unearthly beautiful color. She proceded to try to convince me that she knew it was going to happen all along, but I knew better. The most important magic trick of my life paid off in ways I could have never dreamed.

We're Getting Married!!!!

So, Lyle and I are finally engaged!!! Yes, I said finally, cause it feels like I have been waiting forever! We got engaged on May 16Th 2009 in Yankton, South Dakota. If you really want to hear the story you can keep reading, if not, you can skip the next few lines. :)


Anyways, we were in South Dakota for Bryan's (his brother) graduation. He was graduating from high school. First of all, I just have to say that I had no idea it was coming. He and I went ring shopping a few weeks before and we found "the ring." I was super excited but told him that I didn't want to know anything else about it, I just wanted him to take care of the rest of it on his own time in his own way. Well, I told my parents about it and they wanted to go see it. I went in with them to look at it and the lady there said some guy was looking at buying it too, but they could get another one. So I wasn't too worried about it. But, Lyle went in a few weeks later and told me that the other guy bought it and they were ordering a new one that would be here in about 3 weeks. I believed him, because it sounded believable. By the time we got to South Dakota it had only been about 2 weeks. And I was totally buying the fact that it was being shipped.

The Saturday before Bryan's graduation, Lyle took me to a park next to the Missouri river. It was a really cute park with a really nice view. The sun was out but it was windy and cold. Despite that, Lyle made me walk around the park with him. We played on the swings a for a little bit, but I finally got to the point where I was cold enough to go. We were walking out when he made me sit down at a picnic table so he could show me a new trick. ( for those who don't know he does semi-professional magic tricks, yes he's been paid to do shows). He proceeded to show me his new "trick" and told me to think of a happy thought. Of course I imediately thought of the ring, but I didn't tell him that becuase I am too stubborn to admit that I am thinking exactly what he wanted me too. Then made the ring appear out of box and he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was perfect.

I did get suspicious when he made me sit down in the cold to show me a trick becuase he is very sweet and wouldn't normally make me suffer like that. ;) Plus, it was windy, so his cards would have blown everywhere. Plus he seemed kind of antsy and nervous, which is unlike him when he is doing tricks for me. So, I knew before I saw the ring that something was up. He did have me tricked and believing that the ring was shipping. I found out later that he actually had the ring ever since the day he told me they ordered it. He had been holding onto it for weeks! He can be such a booger sometimes. :) But I love him dearly!


As of now, we have been patiently waiting to set a date. We are trying to work out a few things and make sure that everything will work out for a specific date. We are looking at October 24th 2009.

YAY!!!