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As contained within the Photo Montage Video

Before we can get into that, we’ll need a brief explanation, if you’re not familiar with this story already…

On August 19^th I asked Rhonda (The Proposal) to become my wife (for the first time – wait, you’ll understand later).

Setting the stage… To surprise Rhonda her for her Birthday, I had purchased tickets for the Detroit Shock WNBA (Woman’s Basketball) team and she didn’t know where we were going. I wanted to take Rhonda to the game, and Propose there, as Basketball had been an important part of Rhonda’s life and her sport of choice to play having even played for her High School team (my sport was Hockey, and I played on my High School team).

The tickets I had purchased were on the Court itself on folding chairs and the first row – what a view of the game from there! I even went so far as to have her blindfolded so she wouldn’t discover where and what we were doing until the last minute. The first surprise was when she took off the blindfold and discovered where we were, and for what. We enjoyed some pre-game activities outside the Palace, ate dinner, and the next surprise came when we headed for our seats – since at this point she hadn’t seen the tickets yet. We began down the stairs, and kept going, she kept expecting to stop, and right onto the floor – Shock, for sure, and I’m not referring to the name of the team here!

The 3^rd and 4^th surprises came at half-time. I had arranged for her Birthday (which wasn’t really until the 25^th) to be displayed on the Scoreboard, problem was I didn’t know exactly when it would be put up. I waited, and fidgeted, and waited, stalled for time and reasons not to leave the floor, and waited, etc…. The teams wondered back onto the Palace floor and began warm-ups prior to the Second half, which was to begin in about 3 minutes. Finally, the Birthdays were displayed. I pointed it out to her, but it wasn’t going to end there!

Having about 1 minute and 30 seconds (RUSHED, to say the least) all that I’d hoped/planned to say (the original text of what I’d planned to say is included in my opening remarks – see "Opening Remarks – He says") was out the window – I winged it… I declared to the crowd "Here’s the Birthday girl", which she of course thought that was going to be the only embarrassment, but NO, I went on. I got down on one knee, having now obtained the attention of many around us (so as to declare my Love to the World), The speech contained my belief that we were made for one another, and with Basketball’s and Players bouncing around me while kneeling there, I further went on to ask that Rhonda become my wife. She accepted.

I placed the 1^st of 2 engagement rings on her finger, explaining how the Ring I had purchased was not ready for this event, and that this ring (which she still wears to this day on her Right hand) would be a temporary engagement ring.

Well, I told you how rushed the circumstances at/during half-time were, but I wanted to go on with it and not wait until after the game. I decided to Re-Propose (The Re-Proposal) at a later date, that wouldn’t be so rushed – and that one we caught on Video and is included in the Photo Montage. The 2^nd, or Re, Proposal took place on October 10^th at Rhonda’s Fathers – who was gracious enough to co-conspire and get it on VHS tape. This time, the "Real" engagement ring was ready and placed on Rhonda’s hand upon her again accepting.

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