I always knew my proposal story would be a little different
than most. I knew there would never been
a big sign at a baseball diamond up, or a fancy restaurant involved. Jerome
simply knows me, and us, too well to follow a traditional formula. But, I never
would have guessed the he’d come up with such an elaborate plan to completely
surprise me and leave me in awe, the day we got engaged.
Of course, we batted around the idea of marriage when we
first moved in together 11 years ago in San Francisco; but, we decided that it
wasn’t for us and left it checked at the door for someone else to pick-up and
carry away. After we moved to NYC, at
the end of 2004, we’d naturally revisit the topic from time-to-time, cracking
the door just enough to debate the pros and cons before pushing it back out and
shutting the door again.
So, what was the catalyst to do it now?
During a cold winter day around my 32nd birthday
we slipped into one of our favorite bars, Little Branch, early in the night.
We’d been out, dressed as Mr. and Ms. Claus for the annual SantaCon bar crawl
through town and decided to tuck ourselves into a booth for the night for a
long chat. We talked about the future, and apparently I told Jerome that if we
didn’t get engaged by the time we were both 35, we’d need to shut the door on
marriage for good. I don’t fully recall this conversation, or the age 35
sticking in my head, but I’m glad I said it because it led to one of the best
days of my life.
When we first met, in Florence, Italy during our year
abroad, I quickly learned of Jerome’s creative talents. He was an amazing cook,
incredible artist and incredible humble musician. He wrote me a poem on a leaf
for Valentine’s Day, and filled out an entire sketchbook with stories and
drawings during our summer apart. And, after his move up to San Francisco and
our move to NYC, I am still in awe of his talent and skill.
Then, in 2006 when Jerome learned that Benito wrote love
letters to Margarita, decided to begin writing me love letters and sending them
to me in the mail on freshly minted stationary. His dad, who was in the Navy
and far from home used to write his mom letters to remind her of how much he
loved her (full story here). Jerome wrote me letters while we were traveling,
or sitting at home alone together. He kept his special stationary tucked away in
his bag and wrote me when he had a few minutes to spare at lunch. They were
amazing letters about why and how he loved me. They built into chapters about
how our future together was better than anything he could have imagined and
made me cry with happiness. They were, and are, honestly the brightest spot in
my day every time a new letter arrives.
So, how could someone actually tie this 12-year long
relationship full of amazing leaps and bounds, bumps and potholes, and
incredible adventures together into a single day and tie-it perfectly with a
bow?
Jerome and I were trying to come up with a good gift to give
our parents for Christmas last year, since we decided to use our Christmas
vacation for a trip to Brazil and wouldn’t be home to see them. We decided on
homemade calendars and picked a date in early December to go to Central Park for
a photo shoot. I asked our best friend Skye along, since she’s also a
handcrafted gift kinda girl. The night before our day in the Park, during the
unreasonably warm winter, I thought I talked Skye into dressing up with me so
we could actually pose in some of the photos and really personalize our shots
for our parents. Turns out she actually talked me into dressing up, but I
didn’t realize that until months later.
That morning, Jerome decided to dress up as well, and
slipped on one of my favorite outfits: black suit pants, silk and wool vest and
red and blue tie. We grabbed the subway
down to 81 Street and entered the Park on the west side to meet Skye at
Belvedere Castle, our first sight. When we arrived Skye was standing in center
of the Castle’s plaza, among tourists, locals, cyclists and runners out for a
busy day in the Park. We went to meet her and she stepped away immediately
under the guise of being on the phone with her parents (her regular Saturday
phone call). Jerome leaned over to the
bag Skye had left behind and told me he had a gift for me.
First, I received a beautiful photo book, filled with photos
of our adventures over the years, and scanned copies of all my love letters. I
couldn’t flip through slowly enough, I stopped on every page to take it all in.
Each page had a new memory and meaning that I wanted to chat through with
Jerome. But, now, he seemed a bit nervous and asked me to look back inside the
gift box I had pulled the photo book from.
I pushed aside some tissue to reveal dozens of dry maple leaves, all
with beautiful black writing on them, similar to the first leaf Jerome gave me
more than 11 years ago. This is when I realized something big was about to
happen.
He set aside the box and quickly told me of a conversation he’d
had with my father that morning. I stood shocked for a moment and then started
to laugh and cry, somehow at the same time. He pulled a black velvet ring box
out of his pocket and bent down on one knee before presenting me with my
grandmother Alice’s engagement ring. I immediately said yes and pulled him up
to hug him. He slipped the ring on my finger before pointing out that he’d
invited 2 of our friends to take photos and video of the event. In true Andrea and Jerome fashion we turned
the whole day into our engagement shoot throughout the Park.
Our proposal album and pictures of our engagement shoot will
be on hand at the wedding.
Thanks for reading!
-Andrea
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