For those who want details . . .
I had an absolutely miserable week at work last week. Just insanely busy. Still, I managed to finalize the ring, have "the conversation" with my kids and a conversation with my ex-wife before that about the kids and try to plan things out for the night. Additionally, I should note that there had been some strain on the relationship over the past 6 months or so in that she really wanted to move forward and while I also wanted to move forward, I felt we had to move slower to give the kids a chance to adapt. I let her know my general timetable, but she always worried that when it came down to it that I would not move forward because the kids would prefer to just keep things as they were (and I would be unwilling to put them through it). I initially intended to make dinner reservations at the restaurant where we had our first date, but I found out just days before that the restaurant had closed. So I had to scramble. I wound up working until almost 7:30 on Friday night, but I picked up dinner at Joe's Stone Crab, stopped at the liquor store and got some champagne and glasses and headed over (with the champagne hidden). We had a really nice dinner and then sat down on the couch. The day before she had said to me that she felt some distance between us and was concerned. I couldn't tell her that it was because I had all of this going on and couldn't share it with her. So when we sat down I said "I know you've been concerned about the distance between us, but there's been some stuff going on that I haven't told you about". All the blood drained from her face and she said "What happened? Is it bad?" I said "no, but I know you've been wondering when I would finally commit and we could be together . . . " (at which point she was sure I was about to break up with her) and then I said "well, now's the time." She hugged me and started to cry and I said, "I'm not done yet." I pulled out the ring, got down on one knee and asked. She said yes.
