I suppose that almost everybody that Dana and I know  have been told the entire story... but I didn't really write about it... so, here it is... "<strong>the rest of the story</strong>."  (<a href="http://mmolenda.com/blog/?p=333" target="_blank">the original post is here</a>.)

We arrived in Mentone on a Saturday morning... the entire weekend seemed to be a rainfest.  That just would not suffice!  We had previously decided to see the town on Saturday afternoon and then go to the falls on Sunday (so, the ring was there but not on her hand!)

[I had the ring for a week in my laptop backpack.  Both my Mom and my neice, Amber, had seen it the weekend before while we were visiting Huntsville... Dana was there but had no idea... I am so sneaky!]

So, for a day and a night, I had a lot of anxiety about what I was about to do.  I did enjoy the weekend, but I knew the reason that we were there had not been revealed to Dana, yet.  And after waking up to rain on Sunday morning, I was getting really bummed out because my whole plan... my whole vision was proposing by the falls (I had never been there nor did I even look at them on the internet prior to the trip... trying to be spontaneous.).  We ate breakfast and even watched a little t.v. that morning as the rain came down.  Normally, rain is very calming, but I was so ready to get down on my knee... but I would have to wait.

It eventually let up and quit around lunch time.  We had decided to head out to the falls and then to the park for a picnic lunch.  (and after finding a brochure for Sequoyah Caverns at the cabin... we had decided to check them out...)  We got to the falls and they were beautiful.  Almost the very picturesque setting that I had in mind.  [I had envisioned a picnic lunch there, but the picnic area is in the park.]  I brought my entire camera bag though I had no plans to use both cameras... the ring was in the bag.  [I told you, "sneaky." Also, a bit protective.  I would not let Dana hold the bag as she might look inside and see what I came there to give her.]

We viewed the upper falls and then descended down the steps to view the lower falls... I took some pictures and waited for the other couple to go back up the steps so that we would be alone at the lower falls.  I got the ring out of the bag and put it behind my back.  I started a small conversation with Dana and then I got down on one knee and I presented Dana the ring and uttered words I thought I might ever say to any woman... "will you marry me?"  Of course, she said "yes."  Not only that, but that she's "marry me a million times."  And then and there, at DeSoto Falls in Mentone, AL, we were officially engaged.

The rest of the trip went well... visiting <a href="http://www.sequoyahcaverns.com/" target="_blank">Sequoyah Caverns</a> and driving down to Ft. Payne for dinner at a Ruby Tuesdays... I tried to make the proposal as romantic and memorable as possible... and the fact that Dana still talks about it, I believe that succeeded.

There you have it... the rest of the story.  Hope that you enjoyed it and made you smile.  I know that I smiled while writing it.