HOW WE MET

We met at Dicks. If you don’t know Dicks, then you don’t know Texas. It is a restaurant where basically, you go in and they treat you like a… you know. Or I should say they waiters are more like a @#$. It is hilarious! Especially if you don’t know and nobody tells you. The first time I went there, I was new to San Antonio. At the time I was working on a film set for a low budget horror movie. Some of the locals took us out to eat along the Riverwalk. First thing I notice when we enter is that the hostess is extremely rude. We ask for a table, she complains, rolls her eyes, then finally seats us. It seems I am the only one it bothers. The waitress, Maribel, walks by and just throws the menus on the table and snarls, “Hurry up and choose something, I don’t want to wait all day on you I got things to do.” Everybody is in on the joke but me. I am getting irate. When we are ordering, I ask her what she recommends. She says, “I recommend you do your job and order what you like, then I do my job and get it for you.” Finally, I have had enough. I stand up, I go through the whole spiel. Do you have a problem with me? You have been rude to me since I entered. I want to speak to the manager, blah blah blah. Everyone bursts into laughter including her! “Let me guess,” she says. “You are the newbie?” I was so embarrassed. The joke was on me. It's their thing. You go there to be treated like crap. Only in Texas.

Later, as I was leaving, I notice she was standing outside on the rail by the river. I talked to her for a bit, we laughed, mostly at me. I couldn't help but thinking that she seemed the most beautiful and funny woman that I have met in my life, but just two hours earlier I thought of her as this complete jerk. Life is funny like that. I knew in that moment I wanted to see more of her and I asked her, “So other than being yelled at over dinner, what else should I see in San Antonio.” The next night, we walked the Alamo and had dinner at this place called Rositas, she was giving me the tour.

I had been thinking about taking a permanent job in Austin at a production house. It’s only about an hour from San Antonio. That night I decided. I am coming back to Texas. Definitely.

HOW I PROPOSED

I thought about doing it at Dicks. That would have been too funny. When I thought about it more, I decided that a woman doesn’t want a funny proposal but a memorable one, a romantic one. I did use the place though. I made kind of a treasure hunt. This wasn’t my idea. I read about it somewhere and I liked it. I felt like—I know everybody says it—but I felt like, I am going to do this once, so I want to do it in a way that it would stick in her mind, nobody could upstage me. I selected 12 places. At each place I leave a limerick with a clue and a rose. The limerick is something like, “Something waits for you, that might give you a little prick, at the first place where I met you and you were kind of a D$#@.” That one is funny, but you get the idea. I picked 12 places that were meaningful and memorable to us: Dicks, Rositas, The Alamo, Gas station where I drove off with the pump still attached (yes, I actually did it). Let me tell you why that was memorable. I freaked out, but she laughed so hard she was gasping for air and crying real tears. It made me laugh. We sat there and laughed for about 30 minutes. This is one of those moments when you know, she is the one. I mean, really, this cost us a fortune, money we didn’t have, and her response was, “I would have paid double just to see that.” You see what I mean? She is very clear between real tragedy and actual tragedy. She grounds me like that, laughs at me, herself, the world.

So the last place, the last of a dozen roses is at Rositas. I have this all arranged for Saturday at 6:30. A pre-dinner time. I spent several days setting this up. The idea was she would arrive at Rositas and when she entered, on the center table in front of the door would be the final rose, a Rauschmayer ring, and a note with the last clue, which I ask her to marry me. At that moment, a Trio would play, and we celebrate and like that. That was the idea. Well, I can explain it in a short paragraph simple enough, but I didn’t really think about how long it would take in real time. I mean, as I am waiting, about 7:30, I am realizing, oh crap, I really sent her on a journey. So I have to play the Trio 2 more hours. The manager and the waitresses, they were all nervous for me. I think they were quite certain I was getting shafted. We are all waiting around. I expected few customers at 6:30. But after 7:30 everyone who walks in the door stares at me, gestures. I am really on display. By the time she arrives, the place is full, and eyes have been on me for over an hour. Everybody is waiting and watching. The staff were amazing.

About 10 minutes to 8:00 she walks through with her sister. I will never forget. I mean, I think she knew the end result from the first card so she had carried around this emotion with her on this treasure hunt for like three and half hours. I know, thinking back, kind of stupid on my part. She opened up the last card, turned to me, and just nodded her head. I tell you, the entire place exploded with cheers. The trio burst out. Absolutely crazy. It became a total party that night with everyone. Her family came. Friends showed up. It was a blast. Ultimately, she loved it, despite the journey. Also makes for a great story. I think that is important.

THE RING

She loves the ring. Rauschmayer was great. The person I spoke with kind of went out of their way to help me. I liked that they weren’t trying to sell me the most expensive ring, but that they were helping get something good for her within my budget. Fact is, I only bought from Rauschmayer because I felt like I could trust them. It’s a big decision. Nice to have guidance you can trust.