Proposal help

[RazorRex]

Hi all,

I have been browsing this forum a bit and have decided to drop in and ask you all if you could give me a little help since you all seem to have good ideas. Out of all of the searching I have done, I have not been able to come up with anything that may help.

Ok, so here it goes: I currently live in Lynchburg VA and she lives in Raleigh NC. We are coming up on 2 perfect years of this deep relationship. We first met through this online video game called Tribes and Tribes 2. Sounds odd I know, but we both used to play this game during our lunch hour at work (I played here in VA as she did in NC). Anyway 2 months later we decided to meet in the middle (a small park in Danville VA). 2 years later and we are so much in love and visit each other (255 miles) every weekend. As much as I would like to propose in that very same park we met in, I do not want to blindfold her for a 1.5 hour period of time in a car (maybe I could get there in 1 hour tops in my car, but she would be so sick by the time we got there ). The other issues I have is that I don't know Raleigh at all and my town is just too small for such a thing. I would like to keep the suprise factor as high as possible. I plan to do this in about 10 days, I just hope I have a good plan by then. I am usually pretty good at coming up with ideas, but other than the blindfold thing, I am drawing blanks. I suppose I could give her sleeping pills, LOL, just kidding.

Anyway, any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SkyMonkey]

Hi RazorRex,

I'm based in London, England, and I'm afraid my geographical knowledge of your part of the States is pretty limited. That said, don't know if any of these suggestions might light a spark of creativity that you can use / adapt / follow through. I don't know what your budget is, but if you are going for the park in Danville:

1. Is there any way you can get her to the park in Danville under some other excuse? Eg. say you're taking her away for a weekend away somewhere relatively nearby but far enough away that you won't arouse her suspicions? That could cut down the driving time when she *suspects* (if she does) it might be the park until you actually get there. Obviously taking a different route to the park to the one she would usually take / knows might help hold off the moment of realisation. Alternatively / additionally you could drive her part-way there (as close as you can get without her having an idea as to where she is going), then blindfold her. This would cut down on the time she'd have to be shut-eyed. I think even if she does begin to suspect, that will only increase her excitement / anticipation to the right point before you propose. I have friends who have done similar and it was surprising how well this worked, even when the girl knew the place and where she was going - both brides-to-be were in tears when they realised / the question was asked and neither saw it coming. The key seems to have been to make the day a romantic trip in itself, then the rest is above and beyond what she's expecting because she's already over the moon.

2. I have no idea, but are there trains from her town / nearby to anywhere near Danville? If so, could you make a train trip to Danville or a nearby town and then Danville park by hire car, pretending you're actually going somewhere else?

3. Consider openly inviting her for a picnic or similar to the park in Danville. If you make the picnic itself romantic enough she won't suspect what else is coming. Alternatively, pretend you have some friends who've just moved to near Danville (or use real friends if you have some near there already - best to clear it with them first in case she calls them to check on any details / what to bring / etc - if you go this route and you have a friend you could trust, you could actually get them to send you an invite (addressed to both of you) in advance). Say they've invited you both to the park for a picnic. When you get there, make play of the fact the friends haven't turned up, a big show of walking to your (pre-chosen?) romantic spot (ostensibly on a big "search" for them, but perhaps when you get there your friends have magically turned into a big bouquet of flowers or similar?), and then propose. Either approach would get around the difficulty of not wanting her to know where you're going first.

4. Chauffer driven car of some sort with blacked out windows in the back? Crack open a bottle of bubbly with her and read some poetry (or whatever you think she'd appreciate) during the journey to keep her mind off what's outside.

5. If you can't make it to the park in Danville on the day itself, consider going there in advance (on your own, obviously) with a video camera and make some sort of presentation "from the park" which you can watch with her wherever you decide to actually propose. You could really make this into something, e.g. fake a delivery package to her which you post through her door just before you arrive, it says on the outside (or on a message inside) that it's from Cupid (or whatever - depends what you think she'd like), maybe get a Danville postmark on it in advance. Inside is the video tape, you act as surprised as she is and you both sit down together to watch it. When it gets to the right moment on the film ("I have something to ask you"... film pans across the park, onto a sign saying "THE END?" or whatever) you can turn to her next to you with the ring and pop the question. If not the video camera route, you could just take some choice pictures and make up a simialr package?

6. Again, if you can't make it to the park itself, is there some token you can collect from the park in advance and give to her just before you propose? I certainly don't advocate picking flowers from public parks without the keeper's permission, but if the two of you sat under a particular tree or similar?? I realise it's January - natural flowers are limited here at the moment, not sure what the weather is like with you - but it's just another thought.

Hope the above helps, if only to rule out some things, but whatever you do I'm sure it will be great. Good luck!!

Regards,

Claude