On June 25th - at about midnight - I asked Erin to marry me. I did it on our trip up north to Pittsburgh.

I did it as her (our) Grammy looked on.. Erin and I have a long-running joke as to who can get in the best graces of Grammy on any particular occasion.

The funny thing about the whole thing was getting the darn ring through security without Erin discovering my plans. I had originally put it in my bag, but decided against it knowing full well that I would have to walk through security with it.

Anyways, we got to the airport. Now when you travel with someone, seldom are they out of close proximity. We get to the scanner and I purposefully let her go first. She walks through fine. No problems.

Just as I put the ring in the box, I get nervous about she seeing it as it rolls through. It would have wrecked the surprise. Since I had nothing to cover it up with, I just decide to take a chance.

Then I get asked to step aside for a closer inspection. Oh brother! Thankfully, there was a lighter in Erin's purse that held things up a bit and distracted her. I motioned to a screeener (a women) and quickly told her what was up.

She grabbed my tray before anyone saw. With a smile and a wink, all was well.

The flight turned out to be a great time to catch some zees. We landed in Baltimore. We had arranged a rental car and shuffled off to snag it. Erin - being the control maven she is, had pole position and down the highway we went. What was funny is in that I had her convinced along the way that 'I had no idea' when I would propose. It was like a daily grilling lately. Since we hadn't gone to New Orleans, (my first idea ruined) I was jonesing for another plan....

At Grammys.
We got to Grammy's about 11:30. Its this great place in Mechanicsburg called Bethany Village [3]. As is custom for Thelma, she was thrilled to see us as we walked in the door.

As usual Erin had to excuse herself (imagine that?) so I quickly pulled Grammy aside and clued her into my intentions. She was all game and truly excited for Erin. I made her sit down on the sofa so she could have ringside seats - the perfect view. I called Erin over and told her that Grammy and I had something important to discuss and run by her. Just as she sat down, I think it struck her, if only for an instant.

I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. Estatic and in tears, she really didn't say 'yes'. (I suppose that happens to a lot of gals in that position). After a prompting from Erin, I slipped the ring on her finger. (That was a bone-headed move on my part -duh?)

Conincendentaly, just as I slipped the ring on Erin's finger, Grammy thought she heard the doorbell ring. I told her she must have been mistaken, and that it was probably just the 'bling bling' she heard. OK- I just made that up).

Just like that it was over in a flash. We had to get up the next day to attend our beautiful Godchild's christening. Erin kept quite in announcing the news on the next day - Gabrielle was the center of attention.