Three years ago, on May 22, 2003, Christian proposed marriage to me at Mom's house in Suffern.As I stroll down memory lane I might as well take the rest of you with me.
Christian came to visit me in New York that week as he had done several times before. This time was a little different though. A few months earlier, when I visited London in January, he had suprised me with a trip to Naples in Italy for 4 days. Prior to leaving London, we went shopping for "proper" foot attire for me (since, despite his many requests, I didn't bring comfy shoes because none of mine were "cute" enough). Whilst in a mall outside London he tried, on several occasions, to get me into a jewellery store. Vehemently grasping my dwindling independence I refused to go in; terrified of all that signified. So he never got me in a jewellery store that day.
Fast forward 4 months. He is in New York and we take a day to go into New York City for fun. We ended up at a street fair in Hell's Kitchen where I insisted on getting a henna tattoo on my hand. He insisted the woman into doing it on my right hand - bu I thought nothing more of it. Then we proceeded uptown, where we did go into a few stores in the Diamond District that reeked of cigarette and cigar smoke, totally turning me off to anything. Walking up 5th Avenue he practically pushed me into Tiffany & Co, where we met Stuart Segal. Christian had a ring in mind - and when I told him what would be my choice it turned out they were exactly the same. Two credit cards later, Christian had purchased the ring and we sat in a private room drinking champagne feeling a little bewildered and not yet comprehending what we have just done.
Later that night we met with my dearest friends for dinner (Alexis & Ron, Josh, Patrice and Lisa) and told them what we had done. The confusion on their faces was priceless, since we only admitted to buying an engagement ring, but we weren't yet engaged.
The next day we drove down to Sterling, VA, where my dad lived at the time. Christian had never met my Dad, so we wanted to spend quality time with him. We had a wonderful few days, which included an exploration of historic Washington DC. Unfortunately, Christian never found just the right time to have "The Talk" with my Dad till I was packing up the car. He ran into the house and finally asked my Dad for my hand in marriage. Both of them tell me the answer was pretty much "Sure, go ahead, why are you asking me?". My Dad knows just the right things to say.
Still not yet engaged, we drove all the way back up to New York. It was seven hours, and we had gotten stuck in horrid traffic along the way. We got back to Mom and Phil's house, where they told us to quickly freshen since we would be late for dinner reservations at our favo(u)rite restaurant, Mt. Fuji.
I ran outside to get the camera out of my car, and Christian told me it was imperative we went inside for a moment. Mom and Phil were already in the car, which I told him, but the dear man would not be swayed.
He marched me inside, up to my room, and there, proceeded to get down on one knee and ask me to be his wife! At that moment, all the apprehensions, and all the fears I had had since we pretty much met just melted away. My job, my car, my life in Rockland County, while all very important to me, had to go, for now.
I said yes.
We then ran down and I told my mother she needed to get out of the car...right away. She barely got the door open before I thrust my left hand into her face, almost poking her eye out.
Within four months, the car was sold, the job relocated, and I was on a one way trip to my new life.
No comments:
Post a Comment