Michael Wayne Thelen popped the question to Kristen Annette May on September 22, 2000. This is the story! The words in blue are Mike's and the words in red are Kristen's.
I had been planning on proposing to Kristen on September 22 for quite some time, because it was the one-year anniversary of the day we met. For about two weeks leading up to The Date, I had to do some heavy-duty sneaking around to take care of getting the ring, asking her father's permission, and various other tasks.
I knew this proposal was coming. In fact, I even knew that it was coming before December 25th, (I had convinced Mike that whether or not we were engaged over Christmas might make a difference in our holiday planning). But I never had a clue that he was planning on the 22nd. He was pretty sneaky about diverting my attention from this day.
Sometime in June, we had gone ring-shopping and picked out a band we both liked, and I had gotten an idea of the kind of diamond she would want. I spent the summer at a research workshop in Baltimore, and after I returned to Salt Lake City I went to see if I could buy the band we had picked. The lady at the jeweler shop was astonished that they still had it in stock, and told me horror stories of people who had walked out intending to return and buy something, only to have it sold to someone else within hours. So I picked out the ring and a perfect diamond for it.
It is the perfect ring. I am also surprised the band was still there when Mike went back for it. When we had gone looking for rings before Mike went to Baltimore, this is the one we both fell in love with. We were talking about the upcoming proposal one day (I think it was when I was getting the Christmas hint), and he made a comment to the effect of "How am I supposed to do this proposal anyway? Am I supposed to have a ring?" At that moment my hopes sank a little. Even though the sneaky boy did have a ring, and knew exactly when he was going to propose to me, I didn't know this. I was left with the conclusion that not only did he not have the ring we loved, but he was completely clueless about how to propose.
About a week and a half before The Date, I had gone down to visit Kristen's parents while she was at work. We had a nice discussion, and they said that Kristen and I had their support in getting married. I told them the date I was planning to ask her, and they didn't let the secret slip.
Everyone did a terrific job at keeping a secret from me. In fact, I am amazed that with the sheer number of people who knew about the proposal day before me, no one gave me any reason to suspect it.
For a week before The Date, I asked friends for ideas as to how I should propose. I got a lot of wacky ideas. Then I turned to the Internet. Most of the ideas on the Internet were too cheesy. But I think I read about an idea that was more romantic than cheesy, about a guy who had made his girlfriend a book about their relationship. I decided that I wanted to do something similarly creative, so I set about writing Kristen a book.
I wanted to write Kristen a poem, particularly since I've been lacking in the poetry department lately. The title of the poem became "12 Things I Love About You", one for each month since we had known each other. I went out and bought some card stock to make a cover for the book, and special construction paper to make and illustrate the pages. I also went to Barnes & Noble and looked at a book about how to do your own book-binding. I chose a simple example and learned how to create a nice booklet with needle and thread. You can see the final product here.
This book is the most beautiful thing ever. I've read it at least 30 times already, and every time I look at it I'm reminded how wonderful Mike really is.
September 22 also happened to be the date of the University of Utah's Homecoming dance, and Kristen really wanted to go to that. So we bought tickets and made that our plan. We were also planning on going to dinner at Rodizio Grill (the expensive restaurant where we first met), since it was a special occasion.
I did really wanted to go to homecoming. If I had known Mike was going to propose that night, I probably would have been a little less adamant with my request for him to take me. But it was nice to be in special clothes this night. Speaking of special clothes, Mike bought a new suit for homecoming. The reason this is of relevance, is, because, when we were talking about whose credit card to put Christmas plane tickets on, he told me that he was at the end of his credit limit on his card, because he bought the suit. In all actuality, he reached the end of his credit limit because he had bought a suit and a ring. When he told me he had no money, I was convinced that because he also had no ring, I would definitely not be seeing the proposal until he got a check for work he did over the summer.
I had been dropping hints during the previous week that I wanted to surprise her by making her dessert. I had asked her what her favorite dessert was, and casually let other clues slip. So on The Date, I baked Kristen some brownies for dessert and planned to take her on a mini-picnic to Faultline Park, one of our special spots, where we could look out over the city and I would ask her The Question.
I was just hoping that it wasn't going to rain. The weather had been beautiful all week, but even though I kept watching the Weather Channel for about two hours that day, they kept predicting showers and thunderstorms. I spent another few hours driving around, looking for a Plan B proposal spot, but I hadn't found anything as good as Faultline Park.
Faultline Park was the perfect place for the proposal. It's small, has a great view, and is a big part of our history. We went there countless times to talk, and to enjoy looking out at the city.
Kristen knew it was a special occasion because it was Homecoming, but she didn't know exactly how special it was. I picked her up that evening with the ring in my pocket, and her mom took pictures of us. On the drive to dinner, I mentioned that it was the one-year anniversary of the day we first met, and that was why I had wanted to take her to Rodizio Grill.
I remembered that the 22nd was the day we met, once he told me, but since we started officially dating on November 7th, the 22nd wasn't a date I had been keeping track of.
The wait at Rodizio was going to be about 30-40 minutes, and it looked like it was going to start raining quickly, so I told Kristen that I had wanted to do something special for the one-year anniversary, that I had made her dessert, and that we should go up to Faultline Park to eat it.
All this time, I still suspected nothing. After all, he wasn't prepared for a proposal, and I accounted the special things he did as a celebration for our one year anniversary or as part of the homecoming festivities.
So we drove to the park. On the way, I asked Kristen, "You knew I was going to make you dessert, didn't you?" She said that she had figured it out. I said, "Dang, I just can't keep a secret," and smiled. I had brought a blanket for us to sit on and towels to cover ourselves in case it started to rain (which it had). Faultline Park is situated on a fairly steep incline, which is nice for lying on and looking out over the valley. But it's not good for walking on in the rain, when your soon-to-be fiancee is wearing high heels, and you're both dressed semi-formally. We made our way across the incline and I set the blanket down, the whole time apologizing for dragging her out in the rain, and lamenting that I had wanted to do something special and instead had gotten us both cold and wet. Kristen assured me that it was okay.
It was pretty fun trying not to slide down the hill in formals. We had quite a few laughs as we tried to prop ourselves on the hill.
I had brought along a picnic basket, which was also covered with a towel, partly because I didn't want the book to get wet but mostly because I wanted to cover up the dozen roses I had hidden inside. I pulled out two brownies in baggies, which had to mark the romantic highlight of the evening. We started to munch on them and look out over the valley.
I was a little curious why he had made brownies when I hold told him my favorite dessert was the strawberry shortcake we had made that one time, but I was mostly just happy that he had taken the time to make something special for me.
Then I explained that I had another surprise for her, since it was the anniversary of our first meeting. I pulled out the book out of the basket, and we held a towel over our heads (so the book wouldn't get wet) as I began to read it to her.
I was so amazed at how beautiful the book was. Mike did a wonderful job.
I barely remember reading the book to Kristen. That's because the whole time I was reading, I was only thinking of the last page, where the script calls for me to pull out the ring and ask Kristen to be my wife. When I did finally reach the last page (it came a lot more quickly than I expected!), I threw the towel off us, put the book down on the ground, got down on one knee before my sweetheart, showed her the ring, and asked, "Will you be my wife?" She looked astonished, then smiled really big and said, "Yes." It stopped raining, and we stayed on the hill for another ten minutes or so, holding each other, talking, and enjoying the view of the city. After a minute or two, I also remembered that I had a dozen roses in the basket, and presented her with those as well.
And, I had no idea what was going on until the last line, "and now I ask you...". Truth be told, I had convinced myself that since there was no possible way that Mike was going to propose that night, I was not going to ruin the special things he was doing by being disappointed when the proposal didn't come. A couple of nights before, we had gone to a play at the Pioneer Memorial Theatre. Because this is where we had our first real date, and because one of his pockets looked like it was holding a ring (it was actually holding his wallet), I had started to suspect that maybe it would be that night. After that, I decided to not get my hopes up until he got that check from his summer work. When he asked me to marry him, I was so surprised and happy and completely in love, that it took me a second to come back reality.
Finally, we decided to go back down to Rodizio Grill to claim our reservation. We walked back to the car, where I had one last surprise for Kristen. I showed her that in the trunk I had a blender. When I had presented her with the ring, she was happy and smiling, but when I showed her the blender, she screamed and jumped three feet in the air.
You see, throughout the course of our dating, Kristen has enjoyed asking me if we can go on a "date", which is code language for "the guy pays for everything". It became a running joke between us that someday I was going to take her on a date to Fred Meyer (the local "everything" store), and buy her a blender. Then one day she made the mistake of saying, "Maybe you shouldn't get me a blender, because then what would I have to tease you about? Maybe you should save it for a special occasion." I figured this occasion was special enough.
When I said that, I didn't realize the occasion he would wait for would be 6 months down the road :). I loved the blender, not only because I love making Orange Juliuses, but also because it reminds me of the history between Mike and I (and those ever frequent trips to Fred Meyer).
We returned to Rodizio Grill and had a wonderful dinner, with lots of the conversation centered around the proposal, how I had pulled it off while keeping it secret, how perfect it had seemed, and how happy we were. We went to the Homecoming dance at the state capitol, and the entire evening was surreal. We stayed there for about an hour and a half, dancing and talking. Then I brought Kristen home, where we woke up her parents and told them the story.
Our cheeks literally hurt from smiling so much that night. It was wonderful. For someone who wanted to go to Homecoming so much, I could have cared less about it once we got there. All I wanted to do was look into Mike's face and feel of his love. The evening was wonderful. Mike gave me the perfect proposal, and the perfect beginning for our life to come.