Questions and Answers with Jay

Q: How did you meet?
A: I was hanging out (technically lounging upside-down in my chair) in my room when there was a knock on the door, an often occurrence since my room was the dorm's hub for "hanging out", and my roommate "shirtless" Paul opened the door revealing the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I immediately called her "Shannon" since Paul had earlier been describing to me this beautiful woman living in the dorm by that name. As I (thought I) knew everyone else in the dorm I assumed the beautiful creature at my door was Shannon. Little did I know it was Shannon's exceptionally gorgeous roommate Leigh Anne. She came to my room that night looking for fried chicken which had been delivered to our room by a mutual friend who worked at KFC at the time. That was the first of many visits, each subsequent one having less to do with the desire for fried chicken...

Q: What attracted you to her?
A: You mean other than the fact that she is the most beautiful woman in the world? From the moment she opened her mouth it was apparent that she was witty, smart, and possessed a good sense of humor. She immediately began telling us about her future plans and what she wanted out of her life. Her goals were nearly verbatim with mine which I had set years earlier. And best of all she decreed that she was not going to date anyone while she was in college. I always loved a good challenge.

Q: How did you woo her?
A: In the beginning we just talked and tried to get to know each other, My roommate Paul, a mutual friend, helped me by inviting Leigh Anne to the room on numerous occasions. Within a week I asked her to attend a parade with me where all of our band friends were marching. It was a great way to get to know her one-on-one. I did not want to make it apparent that I was interested in her so I invited all of her roommates to come along as well. Luckily, none of them could join us. Soon after, I invited her to go on a solo walk with me knowing that if she said "yes" then she could tolerate me at least (always a good sign). After that, I began to make my move. I drew her a portrait. I wrote her poetry. I bought her flowers. I even painted a red rose white when no white roses (which she had expressed a fondness for)  were available. At first she was flattered and then she began telling me that all my work was futile: she could not be won.. But I persisted: we still played DDR, we ate together, watched movies together in a group, I visited her concerts, met her parents, talked to her every night before she went to bed, and I intentionally timed my breaks at work to coincide with her practice time so I could "accidentally" run into her while she was practicing. Eventually I wore her down and she agreed to date me knowing if she didn't I would drive her insane. Three days later she dumped me and I started back again. Four days after that I won her again and we've been together ever since.

Q: Do you have a special song?
A: Eternity ~ Memories of Light and Waves from FFX-2. It is a song from a video game she gave me for Christmas and it was the first game we each shared with other. Eventually a piano solo of the piece was released and we listened to it to relax in between our demanding college classes. I later found a piano duet of the piece in which I printed for her birthday so we could play the song together. Finally, I found two string players who played a variety of game songs at a convention and recorded them playing the piece as a gift for Leigh Anne.

Q: How did you propose?
A: On the bridge of Angels in Rome, Italy. Leigh Anne knew I couldn't afford the fancy wedding rings she had pointed out to me when we "accidentally" stumbled upon a jewelry shop, so she told me I could propose with anything as long as eventually she would get the ring she wanted (even if it took years). I vehemently refused to do such a thing and promised her I would give her a ring when I proposed, and we even joked about using a "Ring Pop" (a candy ring with a fruit sucker on it shaped like a diamond). By convincing her that I was saving money for her expensive ring I was able to remove her suspicion that I would propose to her in the near future. Luckily, I had an ace up my sleeve when I was able to ask my grandmother for the ring my grandfather gave her fifty years earlier. She also gave me a diamond earring which she had lost the mate. I was able to buy another matching diamond to go with the ring and earring and with the three diamonds I created new ring which matched the ones Leigh Anne had pointed out to me, but for a fourth of the price (plus it was a family heirloom!).
    As for the location, two years prior to meeting Leigh Anne I started taking spring break trips to Europe with my mother's Spanish classes. The year we began dating one of the chaperones had to drop out of the trip and we needed a replacement to fill her spot. Leigh Anne was able to raise enough money so she go with us and as soon she was in I knew I was going to propose somewhere in Europe. When we arrived in Spain I pulled aside our tour guide, Jonathan, and told him my plans to propose and asked if he knew of a great location. He thought it through and told me that he knew of a spot in Rome where he would propose if given the chance. Six days later we arrive in Rome and I ask him to show me the spot. To do this we had to break away from the rest of the group so when we arrived at the hotel I made up an excuse that I needed to buy a phone card (even though everyone i would call was with us on the trip) and then Jonathan and I went off to search Rome for this perfect location. We literally ran through Rome to get to there since we had to get back to the hotel before people got suspicious.  Once he showed me the location I knew it was perfect.
    It took us 45 minutes to run to the spot and back to the hotel, a trip that would take
 2 1/2 hours for the entire group to walk later that night. Once we arrived back at the hotel it was time for the group to go out on our nightly tour which I had just ran. Every one of my mother's high school students knew what was going to happen so they were giddy with delight, but they had to restrain themselves before Leigh Anne noticed.  Much to my dismay, Leigh Anne became very cold and decided to change out her normal clothes for the walk. She changed into one of my sweaters and put on gloves, the latter choice I spent 30 minutes trying to talk her out of so they wouldn't interfere with the ring (although I couldn't tell her that). We then began to walk through Rome, each turn bringing us closer to the designated spot. I arranged it with my father to video us at various locations to test the lighting conditions so when the time came we would not end up with a video that was completely black. The entire walk I went over what I was going to say to her in my head, and after two hours of walking we finally ended up at the designated spot: The Bridge of Angels looking over the Castle of Saint Angelo (In the link above, click and drag the picture to see the 360 degree surroundings, the bridge is located to the left of the castle). We stopped on the bridge overlooking the river and the castle  and everyone surrounded Leigh Anne. At this point I started my speech (warning: large 12 meg video) which consisted of phrases  like "I told you when we first started dating I would marry you" and "When in Rome..." I then pulled out a Ring Pop which I hid the entire trip and asked her to marry me. Before she could answer I threw the Ring Pop over the bridge and pulled out the true ring which made her cry even more. Somewhere between sobs she was able to say yes (although she never actually needed to say it, we knew we were going to be married within the first week of dating) and we hugged and kissed.  Afterwards we walked through Vatican City but neither of us really remember it since we spent the entire time holding each other.