We'd been friends for a couple of years, and dating for a couple more, and I hadn't been shy about my intention to paint a picket fence with her. We'd even designed a ring.

As anyone who's been down this road can attest, surprising her under these circumstances is quite the enterprise.
If I manufactured some sort of ruse to get her into a hot air balloon - measuring rainbows for the bureau of meteorology - I'm sure she'd have played along, but I wanted her to be genuinely surprised.

At my request, mum suggested to Amanda that they throw me a surprise birthday party (29 being such a milestone).
She's a smart young lady, and I knew that the only way to keep her from discovering secrets was to occupy her with keeping them.

So they planned the party, set the date and rented the local community hall.
Mum's main contribution at their furtive meetings was to voice my suggestions as her own, allowing me some scope to affect the outcome.

Now you'd think it would be fairly straightforward to vicariously organise a surprise engagement party for us, masquerading as a surprise birthday party for me;
but only if you're a simpleton like I am.
It wasn't.

I figured that while Amanda was inviting my friends and family to my birthday party behind my back, I would invite her friends and family to our engagement party behind hers.

I raided her phone while she was in the shower, saving all the numbers I needed, then thought better, called mum to check, and learned that Amanda hadn't yet raided my phone.
Not wanting her to discover the incriminating numbers, I deleted them all, waited until I had confirmation she'd successfully raided my phone, then raided hers again.

This level of subterfuge continued for a few months, and took quite the toll on my long suffering mum. She's a straight shooter, and had to manage three separate version of reality, based on who was in the room at the time.

If we were visiting her as a couple, she couldn't mention either event.

If Amanda was there alone, she could talk about the birthday party but not the engagement party.

If I was there alone, she could talk about both parties, and had to remember to mention any crucial details of the birthday party which might impact on the engagement party.

Thanks mum, love you.

On the morning of the party, my cousin called me "out of the blue", asking me to go and play golf, leaving Amanda free to head to the hall and decorate her own surprise party.
She'd painted up a big -Happy Birthday- banner, and put in a lot of work.
I'm not a total bastard, and had made up a nice -Will You Marry Me- banner to go on the opposite wall.
When warned I'd finished at the course, Amanda hurried home, giving her helpers a chance to add the additional decorations.

To convince me to dress nice for the big night, she'd invited me to a surprise outing in the city, and went to great pains to flesh out her ruse.

After we were ready, my grandmother called me to ask me to drop by the community hall to "help move some boxes". I was tempted to put up some objections just to see the look on Amanda's face, but didn't want to tempt fate, so agreed to drop in to the hall briefly.

Amanda insisted on driving us to the hall, and to reinforce her story she asked me to hand over her bag, so she could check that she had "the tickets"; even going so far as to inspect an envelope she'd brought for that purpose.

Watching her look for the tickets was probably the most surreal moment in the whole escapade.
We both knew there were no tickets in that envelope, but we both pretended there were.

We arrived and started the short walk across the park, toward the unlit hall.

That's when her phone rang.
Amanda's cousin had been unable to attend as she lived a long way away.
In a different time zone, where 7:30 was almost half an hour ago.
Amanda answered, and her cousin started squealing in celebration.

I was rumbled. So close.

Amanda told her cousin she'd call her back, and hung up on her. She was so focused on successfully executing my birthday party, she wasn't even remotely curious about the strange call.

Unrumbled.

We both tried to look casual as we strolled through the doors of the hall, and suddenly saw a hundred friends and family.
Amanda waited for the big "Surprise!"

Nobody said a word. They just stood there. I like to think she was kicking herself for not giving more detailed instructions, while taking mental note to make smarter friends.

I told her I loved her, and desperately wanted to be her husband, got down on one knee and asked if she'd marry me.

I'm so glad she did.