We were engaged on the New Year eve of 1999 and surrounded by the joy of 1999 final count down and the excitement of Year 2000 celebration at the Warehouse of Oriole Ball Park. Joining  us were our two special friends, Dr. Robert Chu and his wife May and a big Millennium New Year Eve party.

The day started when I went to pick up the engagement and wedding rings I chose for Maggie. I had to find an excuse to go to the Jewry store by myself, since this would be a surprise for Maggie. It was quite a relief when I saw the rings since the rings should have been ready a day before.

The next thing was to figure out how I would propose. I began to talk with some friends and got some ideas many weeks ago, but nothing really painted out for me. Finally, in the afternoon, the picture of “Maggie, Will You Marry Me”, a big sign kept popping up on my head and the idea came up. Playing pictionary would be the theme of my proposal and the words of the puzzle would be “Maggie, Will You Marry Me”. I then found an excuse to visit my friend, Jim, to prepare for the signs. By the time I got home, Maggie was complaining that I was late for the party, but she had no idea that I had been busy all day working on the proposal.

That evening we went to pick up Rob and May first and everybody put on the rose pin I had prepared for. It did look great on the Tuxedo and dress. We then headed to Oriole Ball Park. When we got in, we all got excited. The ballroom was full of people (more than 4000) and live music. Everybody all dressed up and looked great and sexy. There were total of 3 ballrooms with 3 different live bands and 1 ballroom with 102.7 Baltimore most favorite radio station. We walked around and chose the grand ballroom to have our Millennium dinner. However, we were very disappointed with the food, since we thought with $200/person we would have a decent dinner. But the Drink was free and was on Rob as he said all night.

About 45 minutes before the count down, we started to play pictionary. I explained to everyone that the wrapped gift (rings) was sponsored by our friends, Jim, and whoever won the game would win the gift. We would play two rounds. The first round would be the trial one to get everybody familiar with game (Actually, it was designed to distract Maggie’s attention.) The second one was for real. The idea was to have Maggie win the game, so she would be surprised when she open the gift. We started the game by having everyone write down some words as the puzzle, which included some action and object words. We all had a lot of fun on the 1^st round, since the puzzle were very creative and funny.  

About 15 minutes before the count down, I announced that we would play for real. This time I brought out my prepared puzzles, the BIG sign. We started the first word “ME”. Maggie got it, since I hinted to Rob and May not to win. The second word was “WILL YOU”, May got it. The third word was “Maggie”, Rob got it. Maggie was so into the game, she had not linked those three words together. Finally, the last word was “MARRY”. Rob guessed the wrong word intentionally to give Maggie the chance to win, but May said the last word. So the winner was May.

First I thought maybe I should change the game plan, but on the 2^nd thought I thought that might be a better idea. I gave the gift to May and asked her to open it. She was a little shock too since she knew what was in the gift. She kept asking me “Are you sure?” I said “YES”. At this moment, Maggie still didn’t pay attention to the puzzles, the BIG sign, sitting in front of her. She just had her eyes wide open on the gift. When May open the gift, she finally realized it was the Ring for her and that was my proposal. She was surprised and enjoyed the special moment.

I had my knee down and officially asked her if she would marry me. She kissed me and smile happily, but never say “YES” or “NO”. May then put the puzzles on sequence together and now all the people sat around us realized what was going here and congratulated us. We were all overwhelmed with the congratulation and the final count down and assumed she said “YES”.

After the count down, we began our celebration and danced the night out. I had never seen so many beautiful people in Baltimore, but this was the night you would see them all in one place. I had never had so much drink in my life, but I didn’t stop drinking since this was only once a life time and we only live once. This was our engagement. We were glad that our best friends, Rob and May, were with us for this special evening. We’d also like to thank Jim for taking the Engagement picture for us.