Engagement Story

by Brian Hanifin

Birthday Brick

Nerene and I bought her Grandma a Padres brick with her name on it. The brick was placed permanently in the ground under some palm trees at the new downtown ballpark. Nerene also got me a brick, which she gave me for my last birthday.

On Wednesday, June 23, 2004 we took her grandma to a Padres game. We told her we were going to show her my brick. I cannot explain how thrilled she was when she realized the brick we showed her had her name on it! That was neat to see.

Thrilling Finish

As if seeing Grandma's reaction to seeing her brick wasn't enough, the baseball game featured a very exciting conclusion. The Padres hit a home run in the final inning to win the game!

What's Next?

While everyone was still chatting about how exciting the ending to that game was... I leaned over to Nerene and said "I love you". Then I kissed her and said, "Would spend the rest of her life with me?" She smiled... then paused. It took her a moment to contemplate the meaning of my question. When she said "Are you serious?" I showed her my mother's ring so she knew I meant to marry her.

She was very choked up. She didn't say anything for a while. As I had hoped, my timing was a complete surprise!

I hadn't originally planned for her whole family to be sitting right next to us when I proposed. Fortunately, they had no clue as to what was transpiring until Nerene was able to compose herself. There was a lot of hoots, hollars, and squeals when stood up and showed them the ring! :-)

It occurred to me later that she never actually answered the question... let's put it this way: she bought a bridal magazine the next day. ;-)

Related Information