We were talking about marriage for a while during our one year post-graduate training program. Based off of our salary at the time, I didn't think that we would be engaged for at least a year after we started working as full-fledged pharmacists. We went out to dinner at the Water Works Restaurant and Lounge. After dinner, he oddly wanted dessert when I didn't want any. (For those that know us, I have a sweet tooth and he is not used to eating sweets at all). After the dessert came out, it had a candle on it with words on it. It said "138, I love you, will you marry me?". Totally unsuspecting it, I thought it was for the wrong table and that the waiter made a GIANT mistake so the first words out of my mouth was "Really?!". I found out that it was for me when I looked over and he has the ring in his shakey hands asking me to marry him. I said "yes" after sound time. And here we are, planning our wedding 1 year after we are engaged. 

I'm not good with surprising Sandra, but I knew I wanted the date I proposed to her to be a surprise. I knew I wanted to propose that year/time frame because we just finished our PGY1 residencies so it would be the time she least expected it since we made less than half our full salaries. When choosing the date, I didn't want to choose something too obvious (like our dating anniversary), so I tried to find a date with some meaning. Since 138 means "I love you" (1 meaning, 3 words, 8 letters = I Love You), i chose July 20, 2013, since it happened to be the 1380th day since we started dating. I remember the morning of that day I was really anxious. Without going into too much details, I think I said something stupid (I blame it on the anxiety) and Sandra was mad at me that morning. So, the day didn't start out that well. She was upset to the point where she said we should just cancel our dinner reservations that evening. Fortunately, she forgave me enough for us to keep our reservations. Going to the restaurant, I somehow managed to hide not only the ring, but also the ginormous ring box in my pocket without her noticing. When I initially made the reservation, I requested something be written on a plate when dessert comes. For those who know us, Sandra is known for her love of desserts, and me, not so much. I rarely (if ever) order dessert. When we saw the dessert menu, Sandra said she didn't want anything. Somewhat panicked, I ordered a random dessert. That triggered some confusion from Sandra since she knows I never order dessert, but fortunately she didn't question it. When the dessert came, she was reading the words written on the plate. I think she may have thought it was sent to the wrong table. After she finished reading the plate, she turned to me and I had the ring in hand. The first word I envisioned her response would be was a "Yes", but instead I got a "Really?" (presumably from her disbelief). Needless to say, she eventually said yes =].