It was a morning like any other morning, this quiet dawn of January 29th, 2007. As Gen's rhythmic breathing fell a distant second to my racing heart beat, I knelt down beside her and shook her awake. I could see that it was going to take more than a few romantic words to wake her from her slumber, so after I mumbled a few nonsensical things, I decided to bypass my tangled tongue and just present her that which had been keeping me awake the past week: the
diamond ring I had hidden behind my bed. 
I knew that Gen had no idea that this was coming, but her response was not what one hopes for when he asks the woman of his dreams to spend the rest of her life with him. We had spoken several time previously about getting fake wedding bands so that hostels would think we were married and maybe let us share a room, so her initial response to the ring was that it was fake. Finding it difficult to convince her otherwise, my only strategy was to make her feel my racing pulse to show her this was the real thing. After she realized what was going on, a calm silence fell over the room while she processed my request. I got antsy after about thirty seconds of silence and prompted her to respond, to which she said “I haven’t even brushed my teeth yet!” That’s two strikes for me, so far. So with my final pitch, I insist she respond with a yes, and of course she does, so it’s a homerun for both of us! God bless PSU!
The pictures below are of dinner that night with Jake's parents at an all-you-can-eat sushi restaraunt. Aren't we a happy couple?!
