Dineen:    Even though I was more than expecting Mike to pop the question at some point, I never in a million years thought it was going to happen that night. We had talked about making it our New Year's resolution to take better advantage of Jacksonville culture, so Mike's suggestion of an evening at the Symphony did not surprise me in the least. I was pretty excited when I saw how great our seats were, but I still didn't think there was anything unusual going on.

After a wonderful evening of flute and harp duets, Mike suggested a romantic walk along the St. Johns River, which runs right behind the concert hall. He apparently thought that would be the big moment, but the weather wasn't cooperating. Even Jacksonville gets a little chilly in the evenings in mid-January, and I was too cold to enjoy the walk. So Mike gallantly draped his suit coat over me and we headed to the car, and dinner across the river at the Chart House.

Although I had defeated Mike's plans along the river, I played right into his hands once we got into the restaurant. After being shown to a private booth overlooking the river, we took advantage of the salad bar while waiting for our drinks to arrive. We returned to the tables with salads in hand to find our drinks waiting. Mike insisted we had to have a toast and raised his glass: "To the woman I love." We clinked glasses, and I dreamily sighed, "You know, I really love it that we can go on dates like this, just the two of us, and have so much fun." This, apparently, was the opening Mike needed.

He replied, " How about we do it for the rest of our lives?"