att had been working on his dissertation all of the autumn of 2002 and into the winter, and I had been helping him on the weekends. He did all the hard work—the research!—but I had been editing the text and making figures and graphics as needed. One cold, winter Sunday afternoon we were at Georgetown, and I was making figures and graphics. When I was finished, I asked him if he needed anything else. He told me he would like me to look at one more figure.  I inwardly groaned because I thought we were done, but I gamely carried on.

When he opened up the file on his computer, I was expecting to see raw scientific data. Instead, I saw a picture of his credit card, a picture of my dream engagement ring (built just for me at adiamondisforever.com), and a breathtaking picture of a sunrise over Georgetown. The caption under the side-by-side credit card and ring pictures said "Shall we shop? Since I am severely unqualified to do this alone." (Matt hates picking out jewelry! *g*)

Tears immediately sprang to my eyes, and I could not believe what I was reading. I was so dumbfounded that kept looking at him and saying, "Does this mean what I think it means?" over and over again.  My brain could not grasp that he was actually asking me to marry him.  So, I had to keep asking him.  :)  He smiled and told me to continue scrolling down the figure. I did and found that he had written about what I had come to mean to him over the years and how he never wanted to lose me (we had broken up briefly just before this); he had been without me and realized that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. He ended it by asking me to be a part of his family and life forever. I was shaking and crying, but I managed to say yes! He told me later that he was shaking so hard as I clicked on the figure that he couldn't believe that I couldn't see it!

He then went on to explain that he himself had taken the picture of the sunrise over Georgetown and Washington D.C. He had gone to the top of his lab building at Georgetown and taken the picture for a number of reasons. One, from his building you can see the U.S. Capitol (his favorite Washington D.C. landmark) and the Washington Monument (my favorite landmark). Two, he knew he was going to propose to me at Georgetown, so he wanted a picture in the proposal to reflect that. Three, he said it symbolized the sun rising on our new relationship. And before this, I didn't think he was romantic!!!!!

He then presented me with a permanent copy of his "proposal" that he had printed out on photo paper and preserved in plastic so that I could have it forever. He admitted that he had been carrying it around for two weeks and had almost asked me several times. (When he had originally planned to ask me there had been other people in the lab.)

It was a beautiful moment that I will treasure forever!