For those who don't know, I've spent the summer down here in Tucson, just a block from Camille's apartment. One of the things we've been spending our time doing is teaching her to drive. She's always lived in the city and has never had much of a reason to drive, so from time to time we've gone out to empty parking lots and dark desert roads for some crash courses. In late June, with our driving lessons in mind, I got my proposal plan rolling.

After some extensive searching, I came across Signs America, a sign printing company from Pennsylvania. I emailed them and explained my plan. I wanted some huge, 3'x3' road signs with two messages printed on them: 'QUESTION AHEAD' and 'CAMILLE YOUNG'.

The plan was that I was going to put these signs up on the side of the road somewhere near one of our common driving places. She would see the first one, be confused, and shortly see the second one, at which point I would produce the ring.

Speaking of the engagement ring, we went out and bought all the rings earlier in the summer. Camille is a very discerning shopper, and such doesn't waste time or money. After visiting several jewelry stores and getting the hard sell a few times, Camille made it clear that she had her eye on an emerald cut sapphire ring. After making completely sure that she didn't want a traditional gargantuan diamond, I bought it.

Anyway, after a few communication problems, I finally got the signs. Lisa, the lady who took care of getting me set up, was really supportive and thought it was a great idea, which gave me the backbone I needed to go through with it. As you can see in the picture, the signs turned out great. I came up with a plan to pull off the proposal: I would set a certain date for us to go driving one evening, and while Camille was at work during the day I would take the signs and a suit out and hide them in the underbrush off the side of the road. That evening, while giving Camille her driving lesson, I would have her let me out of the car so she could go for a few laps by herself. As soon as she drove off, I would run into the bushes, grab everything, put up the signs, toss on the suit, and be waiting by the 'Camille Young' sign just as she got back.

Done correctly, it could work beautifully. I went to Ace Hardware and bought some u-channel and bolts, and then took it to my friend Ed's to get the holes drilled and to borrow a hammer for pounding the u-channel in the ground. I went out that night, got everything set up, and took a few pictures of the signs:

Everything seemed to be in place. I had the signs, the ring, the plan. I must have gotten cocky, however, because my plans were about to be laid low.

The morning before I was hoping to pull off the big stunt, I got up to take her brother (Steve) to work. We walked around to the back where I normally park my car, but it wasn't there. As I tried to figure out where I'd parked it, a sense of dread steadily creeped up on me. I remembered parking it in my usual spot last night. I turned around and looked again, as if I expected the car to jump out from behind one of the bushes and say "Haha, got you, Reid! I was just joking, come sit down on my comfortable seats." By now I knew what had happened, and the confirmation came from Steve, who called me over and pointed to the small sea of shattered glass in my parking spot. My car had been jacked overnight. And with it, my suit, checkbook, and Camille's engagement ring.

Incredibly, the police found the car only 45 minutes after I filed the report. It was on the side of the road, and they assumed it must have simply run out of gas. Camille, her mom, and I drove there and found my poor little Stratus in a rather sad state.

They busted out the driver's window and tore the ignition up real bad. When I finally got done talking with the officer, I ran to the passenger side and checked the glove compartment. The ring (and everything else of value) was gone. I reported this and then started my car up with the screwdriver that the perps kindly left behind (along with a flashlight and a nasty black shirt). Driving away, I noticed that my car still had half a tank of gas. I realized that they must have had some other reason for abandoning it; they could have gotten a lot for it down in Mexico. About two seconds after I realized they may have purposely broken or sabotaged the car, it started smoking and broke down.

So, my plan wasn't going too well. No ring, no car, no suit, and I could barely afford to replace any one of them (and definitely not all of them). Regardless, I still had the signs, so I wasn't going to be stopped. The next night I told Camille that we were going for a drive anyway, and her mom (Stephanie) let me use her car. While Camille was getting ready, I ran up to Stephanie in a panic, trying to find something to act as a makeshift ring. After brainstorming for a while, we decided that wire would be the best way to go, since Ring Pops and onion rings are both biodegradeable and delicious, and as such were in danger of being eaten before they even reached Camille's hand. Stephanie grabbed some gold-colored wired and twisted it around her finger three times. Perfect.

Despite the many things which had gone wrong the day before, the proposal went almost perfectly. I told Camille to take a lap on her own, and as soon as she drove away I dashed into the bushes and began mounting the signs. Its a lot harder when your hands are shaking, but I got the first one (question ahead) up. I had to hold the second one up above my head as Camille pulled up. She slowly put the car into park and just sat there for a second, probably still trying to figure out what the heck I was doing, so I motioned for her to get out of the car. I took a knee and proposed to my lady, and in spite of lacking a proper ring, clothes, and car, she said yes. We weren't able to get any pictures (obviously), so the picture above is from when her mom made us do a reenactment in the kitchen.

It's been about 9 days, and I have since located an almost identical ring for Camille (the original hasn't shown up at any pawn shops yet...) My car is in pretty sad shape, despite the combined efforts of Ed and myself (mostly Ed). We spent a few hundred bucks on it, and when we thought we'd fixed it, it still wouldn't start up. So I took it into a mechanic, and after another couple hundred bucks, I'm told its either a new engine or scrap. Apparently they ran the car so hard that the poor thing just rolled over and died, so they abandoned it. Lucky for me, news travels fast back home, so I've gotten a lot of money, support, and Ring Pops (to give to Camille) from my family. You guys know who you are; thanks again, and I love you. I should definitely have enough money to get myself and my computer (the only two things I really need anyway) home for another semester of college, one way or another.

In the end, nothing went right at all, and yet everything turned out great. Perhaps even better than it would have if my carefully laid plans had not been put to waste, because Camille and I now have a hard-to-forget proposal story; I promised her on several occassions that I would be doing something unique, but I never imagined it would turn out like it did. God is good, and works all things for the good. Even grand theft auto.

October 20, 2004: Update
Well, things have been...going. I drove Camille's car back from Tucson and it worked beautifully the whole way home, and the month or so for which I drove it here at Purdue. The insurance expired however, so I had to start driving my brother's old car. As you can imagine, going from a 4 cylinder subcompact to Jay's V8, 4.5 liter, gas guzzling monster '88 Eldorado is quite a change. Anyway, the Caddy held up for a while until the alternator blew, which I'm sure would have been a much more entertaining moment had I been on the street watching it happen. Dad fixed that for me (thanks pops), and a few weeks later Camille and her mom Stephanie came up for our wedding shower (which I sat in on). The day after the shower, we loaded into the Caddy to drive to Chicago for some good food and museum browsing before Camille and her mom had to go back home. Well, wouldn't you know, the Caddy died on 80/94. In a traffic jam. In the middle of a huge construction zone. With no exits for about 10 miles. To make that long story short, my aunt Andi (from Chicago) is totally awesome for getting us all home, and I'm never driving another car for as long as I live.

Hopefully we'll be sending out invitations soon. The wedding in Tucson is going to be really small, but the Indiana reception will probably be pretty huge, so bring your dancing shoes. Thanks to the church ladies for the fantastic shower!