It was very romantic! In September 2010, John began planning the proposal while he was still in Afghanistan. He was working over there for the State Department, embedded with the military. One of the soldiers in that unit used to be a D.C. Capitol Policeman and he helped make the location John selected possible. During his February/March leave this year, John surprised me by taking me for a tour of the Capitol Dome in D.C. There is a little-known tour that allows a person to go behind the walls of the Rotunda and up into the Dome itself. We climbed all the way up with a tour guide/guard until we came to the very top of the dome outside, giving us a 360-degree view of the city. I was still clueless that he had planned to propose up there and he was very good at remaining calm and his usual self. He handed the camera to the guide as if we were going to have an artsy couple's photo with the Washington Monument in the background. Holding my hands, John turned to me, smiled, and asked me to marry him. Making sure I had just heard him correctly, I asked him, "Are you serious?!" Then, realizing he was not on one knee, he knelt down and asked me again, to which I replied, "Yes!" quite a few times. This was all captured by the guide taking pictures of us! When we finally reached the bottom of the Dome again, our guide took a detour and told us to "Come over here, quick!" He led us into the United States Senate Press Gallery where a few reporters were waiting around for something to happen. When we walked in, we were ushered to the stage behind the official podium where we were congratulated and had our picture taken (courtesy of a last minute surprise by our guide!).
