For As Long As We Both Shall Live

On Thursday, November 16, 2006, I asked Glenda Jean Dunlap to marry me. She said yes.

Here's how it went down:

My parents and I went over to her parents' house, where Glenda and Benjamin were having their regular Thursday dinner. I called her to have them all come outside with their coats on. I was waiting at the end of a candle-lit path down the front walkway of the house, and my parents stood on one side of path in the lawn. I had her parents stand on the other side and the proposal began.

First, I talked to Benjamin. I told him that there was something I hadn't told him yet. I wanted to tell him that I love him and I want us to be a family. After asking what he thought about that he nodded and said, "That's fine." I then said that I needed to talk to Mommy about some things and had him stand next to Glenda's parents.

Then Glenda came over to me. I reminded her that the day was my 10,000th day of being alive. I said that, even though we've known each other for a majority of those days, the last 160 since we'd been dating were the best of my life. I shared that I want to spend the rest of my days with her and then I popped the question. After a warm embrace, I reminded her that there was one more piece of "business" that I needed to do, and that was to put the ring on her finger. After the little proposal ceremony was over, everyone congratulated each other and we began the process of informing family.

What was special for all of us was having all of the parents there for the proposal. After all the time and love that our parents have invested in our lives, I figured it would be neat for them to be there when we made such a big step. They were all very appreciative.

So now comes the wedding planning. Glenda and I both thought it would be cool to share our thoughts on the process, so we've set up a wedding blog. Along the same lines, we also set up a wedding Web site at the Wedding Channel. Most of my comments about wedding stuff will be contained to those sites and you'll still get my good ol' fashioned thoughts and rants here.

Smiles!