It was a rather cool night as “Land of 10,000 [frozen] Lakes” Minnesota peaked at high of 28 degrees over the past seven days. My girlfriend Cindy and I got ready late into the evening and began to drive to the Mall of America. Cindy was excited in anticipation of what surprise plan I had in store for her on for Valentine’s Day, as I adamantly refused to give up any information.

After 20 minutes in the car, I told her we were going to a place in the Mall of America. In keeping with all the secrecy, Cindy agreed that she would keep her eyes closed and I would lead her by the arm to our destination. A week earlier she had called me to ask if we could go to the “Tunnel of Love” at the Underwater Adventures and I said I would call and find out. A few days later her eyes filled with tears when she asked again and I said I had never called and they were probably full. Needless to say, she was not pleased, but I assured her that she would not be disappointed.

As I drove into the parking lot of the MOA, I asked Cindy to close her eyes and then began our walk to her surprise dinner. After opening her eyes, Cindy found herself in the entrance to the Underwater Adventures. She was really surprised when I told her that I had made the reservations before she called me. She was very happy, as she is a big fan of the ocean and its creatures.

I asked Cindy where tonight stood along other moments of happiness in her life and she said it was near the top. Once we were inside, she was as happy as I’ve seen her, hanging out with some very friendly stingrays and sharks. Of course, I like to throw surprises on top of surprises, so I had one more up my sleeve.

Once the seating began, we walked through some beautiful scenery to the “tunnel of love” with fish swimming all around us. Cindy began naming all the fish and those that were her favorites. As we sat down and looked at all the animals swimming around, a diver happened to come into the water and nearby and waved to her. Cindy thought the diver was going to feed the fish. Instead, he swam up, grabbed a sign and came back down. Cindy was too fascinated with all the other animals to notice the diver grab the sign and swim back down towards her. I told her to look in the direction of the diver; as she turned, the diver flipped the sign over. It read: “Will you marry me?”

Cindy, a little puzzled, read it a few times trying to figure out what was going on. I got down on one knee asked her verbally (figuring by now I’d given her enough clues), “Will you marry me?” and now there was no confusion – only shock!

As I held the ring down on one knee, Cindy accepted as onlookers clapped and cheered. During the dinner I asked her one more time where this moment stood in her life. This time, she responded with a big beautiful smile.