It was May 27, 1999, we were driving to Las Vegas for memorial day weekend. As Marc drove, I wanted some munchies. He said he had some Cracker Jacks in his bag, I said, "perfect, I'm just in the mood for that." However, he couldn't get to his bag which was stuck behind his seat, so he'll find a place to pull over because he wanted to stretch his legs anyway. I thought I could get to the bag and there was no need to stop, but he insisted he needed to stretch. Just as I was getting impatient, Marc pulled over with a sharp maneuver. He was looking for the perfect place to stop and he found it. It was a place where we could drive way off the road next to a hill overlooking a very green canyon. I opened my box of Cracker Jack, after eating off the top ones, I got to the secret toy surprise. I ripped open the sealed plastic bag and found a ring inside. This was when Marc got down on one knee and asked "will you marry me?" I said, "of course... but how did you know it would be a ring inside?" He just gave this funny little smile. As I held it, I realized this ring was too heavy to be made of plastic. It was dawning on me that this was not a toy ring, this was real. I was awe struck by the beauty and size of this ring, and how wonderful it looked on my finger .

He said:

Lucy was in a state of disbelief for the next hundred miles or so. Unbeknownst to her were the preparations I had done leading up to all of this. Finding the ring was the hardest part. Without knowing anything about diamonds, I started the quest. First, I called Ed Pashley, having done this a year earlier, he was able to give me some good tips, and he assured me that I could complete the search in the necessary amount of time. After visits to many stores, searches on the internet, and calls all over the country, I mastered the art of diamond appraisal, the four C's, and much, much more. Unable to decide which quality of the diamond to sacrifice, I knew I wanted a perfect diamond, of exactly the right size to fit Lucy's hand. After searching the jewelers network of the entire country, I found the perfect rock, only a bit late. Tiffany & Co in New York had already put a bid on it, and their buyer was enroute. I would not relent now. I had found it, the only diamond worthy of Lucy's hand. In some tense negotiations, I convinced the jeweler to sell it to me instead of to Tiffany's.

Now the proposal and ring delivery were the next challenge. Memorial day was approaching fast and we were prepared to meet my family in Vegas. Knowing that Lucy cannot resist her snacks, I decided to give her the ring, hidden in a Cracker Jack box somewhere along the route. Getting the ring inside the box was quite an endeavor. First I needed a small container to put the ring inside of, which in turn would be put inside the box. I tried little pouches, and cardboard boxes, I even painted a small box myself. These would not do, they were too big and they could not be disguised as a true Cracker Jack toy. I finally found a tiny round box that would just barely hold the ring. I then sandwiched that between two real Cracker Jack 'Surprise Inside' labels and I sealed it all in a tiny plastic bag of my own creation (using two different types of bag sealing devices, which I bought for this specific purpose). Note to self: You may be insane.

I then carefully unwrapped a fresh box of Cracker Jacks from the bottom, making sure not to disturb the paper/foil wrapper. I then sliced the box at the bottom edge so that I could reseal it later. I opened the box and replaced the toy surprise with my own slightly more valuable version. I then sealed the bottom of the box with aluminum duct tape and glued back down the paper foil wrapper. Note to self: Replace "may be" with "are" in previous note to self.