Jenny kissed me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in.
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in.
Say I’m weary, say I’m sad;
Say that health and wealth have missed me;
Say I’m growing old, but add ---
Jenny kissed me!

James Henry Leigh Hunt

The first thing that you need to understand is that since Jenny knew the proposal was coming at some point (we had been talking about it for a while), I needed to do something unique and surprising. I could leave no clues as to when it was going to go down.

About two weeks before the planned thing, our friend Panos emailed Jenny and invited us over for dinner on a particular Tuesday night. We had dinner there occasionally, so there was nothing suspicious about that. He mentioned that he had some friends in from out of town, and that it was going to be a nice dinner, so we should dress up a bit.

On the main floor of our apartment building, there was a large room with glass doors; a perfect place for a surprise party if the glass could be covered up. So a few days before the dinner, a note on official University Housing letterhead was placed under our door, indicating that there were going to be renovations going on in the lobby starting on Tuesday and lasting for a couple days. Nothing suspicious about that. After all, we occasionally get similar letters from the Housing office for various reasons, and besides, Chaz and Annalise, our friends and neighbors with whom we visited regularly, also received the same letter.

In the elevator on the way to the alleged dinner, I told Jenny that I was curious as to what kind of renovations they were doing, and I wanted to peak in to the room, the doors to which had been papered over. When I opened the doors, all our friends were there and they yelled surprise. I told Jenny it was an engagement party, read her some haikus, and then we were engaged. Then we invited everyone up to our apartment for drinks and food, which had been prepared by Panos and stored in Chaz and Annalise's apartment.