From day one we had always talked about marriage & kids, so almost four yrs later no surprise we went shopping for an engagement ring, & picked out the ring at the Gem & Jewelry show at the Chantilly Expo Center. There was only one hitch though, I told him from day one I live my life my way, I do just about everything different that than others, I don't do the norm, so if & when he was going to propose to me he had to be different, no cheesy lame romantic dinner get down on one knee in the restaurant bit, over done, & he could not propose to me on my birthday, or any holiday way to over done, but he had to propose to me before my 30th birthday. Well on February 13, 2005 our church St. Matthews United Methodist Church has our annual H& bell Dessert Concert. For any of you that may have attended the Kennedy Center Free Christmas Concerts you may have heard of St. Matthews H& bell Choir. Anyway as I said earlier I was with him when he picked out the ring & I knew when he received it in the mail from the jeweler. I knew when he was going to do it (one of the members of the bell choir told me since it was not going to be before my 30th birthday, after all we did not receive the ring back until about a month before my birthday). Now I knew when he was going to pop the question but had no idea how. I of course had ideas of how he was going to do it, little did I know how far off base I was? Well the usual format for the concert is Nancy (bell director) will start out the day with individual pieces comprised of individuals by themselves, triples, quads etc in the Sanctuary of our church & then we move to the reception hall where desserts are given out (according to what you picked earlier in the day), & the first full bell choir comes in & they will play a piece then between each piece Nancy will give read off dedications which they give out either Roses or candy or balloons (these are filled out days or weeks before by individuals). Then of course just before there last piece Nancy will introduce each member of the bell choir that is up & how long they have been playing. Well my boyfriend plays for the Peace Ringers they are usually 2nd to last to play. While they were setting up Nancy did the usual dedications & introducing each member since the Peace Ringers only play one song unlike the others who play several. Well one other common event at these is at least one bell breaks during the concert such as one concert I went to one of the younger boys was playing & the handle snapped in the middle of his performance, he managed to go on but this is the norm no surprise when one happens to break or something goes wrong with them, I tell you this for a reason. The Peace Ringers finished setting up for their piece & I happened to notice as Nancy is attempting to start them my boyfriend & another member are looking at one of the bells, in which Nancy said is there a problem, my boyfriend replied with "There is a weird ring to it" so she asked if he could fix it & of course he responded with yes. So off the stage he went with bell in h&, I assumed he was off to find the necessary tools to fix it & would be back shortly, so I paid no attention after he stepped off the stage & Nancy started to speak again. However a friend of turned my attention ours that was there with us (the gentleman whose birthday party my boyfriend had skipped to meet me), who decided to make a wise crack as my boyfriend walked by. "What are you going to do hit someone in the head with it to fix it?" I turned around to make a comment back to him & that was when I noticed that my boyfriend was down on one knee & he asked me to marry him, & of course I said yes.