The Engagement Saturday, October 14, 2000, was a crisp autumn day. Steve and Tanya were preparing to go to the Maryland Rennaisance festival with their friends: Ken Cline, Chris and Edwige Pinover, and Edwige's brother Samuel Midiguel (from France.) Little did Tanya know what was in store … "One of the saving graces of spending so much time daydreaming of fantastic sorcerers and far-flung stars is it turns you into a bit of romantic," said Steve, as he reminisced about planning that fateful day. "So I always had a pet dream of proposing with a sword at my side, kneeling before a princess beside a babbling stream in a dappled-light forest. Kinda' tough to pull off in the metropolitan Washington DC area. But I did find a serviceable spot, across the Potomac River from the Washington memorials. And with any luck, I mused to myself, I wouldn't be arrested by Virginia State police for carrying around a pointy weapon…." "I really had no idea what was going to happen," said Tanya. "I was actually annoyed at our poor friend Ken that he had made arrangements to meet some people off the driving route. I really didn't suspect that it was a ruse until we got out of the car along the Potomac, and everyone was just staring at us. It was very peculiar. Then when Steve said 'Why don't we walk over here and look at the river,' I just knew." "When he got down on his knee and proposed, it was just an amazing moment. I barely remember it. Actually … it's a blur. Thank goodness our friends captured it on film. Otherwise, I might have thought it was just a dream." Once Tanya said "YES!", the happy couple then embraced their friends, bowed to the gathered crowd (the scene attracted a lot of attention as we were on one of the most heavily traveled bike paths in DC), and hopped back into the cars for the RennFest. "I remember playing with for the ring the rest of the day, for two reasons," said Tanya. "First, it was just so fabulous that Steve's parents gave us their engagement ring for us. Second, it was a size too big, and I was scared to death I was going to lose it." A fabulous time was had by all once we arrived at the Rennfest. Drinking, eating, and making merry was the theme of the day. It was a very good day, indeed.