TBT: Engagement

I had a Facebook memory come up the other day of our engagement on February 19, 2017.

It made me smile. 

Such a surprise.

Such a happy time. Really. I felt like I was on Cloud 9 for a LOOOOOOONG time.

The sparkley diamond, all the congratulations as you share the news, the special treatment at restaurants and other places ... that brief time when you are NOT planning the wedding. LOL!

If you read my #Rach3foraRock post (read it here!), you will know that that was only Part 1 of our engagement story.

Let me share Part 2 with you: our President's Day Weekend trip to Boston.

After I performed the 1st movement from Rachmaninov's 3rd Piano Concerto for Michael, the overwhelming feeling I had was that of relief. And feeling proud. My job here was done. I had met my end of the bargain. The "play-this-crazy-hard-piece-of-music-and-I-will-propose" bargain. Now the ball was in HIS court.

He definitely had me fooled, as much as I had him fooled. He kept telling me that he was saving up for a ring. And I bought it. I really thought it would still be some time before he proposed.

January 29th came and went. I had a brief amount of time where I got to tease him about the ring, or rather, lack thereof. 

President's Day weekend was upon us. 

We had been planning to go to Boston for the weekend to visit a friend and just get away. I hadn't really been before, so that is part of why we chose that city (people always ask, "Why Boston?"). I know. Crazy. I mean, I had sort of been when I was visiting colleges and doing college auditions as a teenager, but not really. And that was EONS ago. This was just a way for us to spend some time together and get out of DC. It never crossed my mind that he was planning to propose while we were there.

So we hopped on a flight and stayed with our friend, Katie.

It was COLD. But not has cold as it could have been. In fact, there had been a blizzard the weekend before!

We walked around the city all of Saturday, checking out a lot of of your typical Boston sights, enjoying delicious food (and drink!), attempting to stay warm, etc. It was glorious. I was definitely digging the city and could see why so many people love the area. 

Sunday was Katie's birthday and we planned to go to Neptune Oyster for lunch for their specialty oysters and lobster roll. Michael had been talking up this sandwich ever since we began to plan this trip. I seriously thought that was going to be the highlight of the day. Having this infamous lobster roll and celebrating Katie's birthday. Ha! Little did I know...

She then left to run some "errands" (I later found out what she was really doing...LOL!) and we continued to walk around the city. It was an unexpectedly gorgeous day. In the 50's! I was having to take my winter coat off it was warming up so much!

Michael said he had arranged a tour for us at the Boston Public Gardens. Now. Being that he planned the entire trip, as I was preoccupied with other things (I was prepping for a recital in March), I didn't bother to research any of this. Like, the fact that there was no tour. This was not a "thing". This did not exist. 

I let him take the lead on this trip. That's generally how we roll when it comes to traveling together. He is the planner and I tag along, trusting he is leading me only to the best of places. LOL. Unless it's a country I have been to and he hasn't, in which case, the roles are reversed. 

Anyway, I digress. 

Our afternoon plans were basically to explore the area a bit and check out this tour. We walked around the garden, hung out on a bridge, watching the people trek out onto the frozen pond, secretly hoping someone would fall through and give us a good laugh. We are so bad, I know.

I really needed to use the restroom (my monthly visitor had arrived that morning so I was feeling FANTASTIC ... ladies, you know how it is!) so we went into a Nespresso store to get some coffee and use their facilities. 

Michael said it was about time for the tour to begin, so we headed back to the garden. I wasn't really thinking about anything in particular, just enjoying the sights. He suggested we wait by this big rock for the tour. Huh? Really? OK. There was a beautiful Japanese Lantern on it. I thought it was quite pretty. And an odd placement in the middle of this garden. Literally. These are the thoughts going through my head. "Oh, look at this pretty lantern..." And wishing my cramps away. LOL!

Then, all of a sudden, he pulls out the ring pop from the Rach3 performance and says "Are you sure you don't want this?"

I was very confused. 

Why on EARTH would he drag that thing all the way to Boston?!?!

Unless...

Oh.

At the moment I realized something was up.

And he was on one knee with the real ring.  

OMG, OMG, OMG...

I think the first words out of my mouth were "Really? You're doing this NOW?!?!"

Ha!

I honestly don't remember everything he said, but I DO remember that he told me a long-ish story, as he loves to do. LOL.

A story about how he had snuck up to PA to buy the ring while I was visiting family in NJ one weekend in November, how he'd been sitting on it since December, all his friends knew, including the friends that were in on my Rach3 secret, how they had kept both our secrets, yadda yadda yadda...

I also remember that when he asked me to be his wife, I didn't give your traditional "yes" response, but "ABSOLUTELY!"

The rest is a blur. It's amazing how such memorable and pivotal moments in our lives are over in the blink of an eye.

We had our "I love you so much!!!!" mushy moment and then he pointed to a far off tree and said "Wave to the camera!". 

What?!?!

He had hired someone to capture the ENTIRE thing!

Because that's what he does.

I love my husband.

I met our photographer, Stephanie, who we would later use to take photos at our wedding.

We walked around the surrounding area and took our engagement photos in our newly-engaged, joyful, in-love state. 

Michael's friends tease him because he knew he would propose at a particular time and he knew that moment would be captured for all of eternity ... and he chose to wear a U of Miami shirt. Because for him, it's all about the U. LOL.

Here are some photos...

After blissfully taking all our photos, we found out our friends had gifted us a hotel room at a nearby Kimpton for the night. That "errand" our friend Katie had to run? Moving all our stuff out of her apartment and checking us into our hotel suite! It was amazing.

We had a lovely dinner celebration with friends, let all our close friends and family know before making it "Facebook official," and were on our way back to D.C. the next day.

Little did I know ....

Another surprise awaited me.

Upon entry into our condo, we were greeted with a huge "CONGRATULATIONS!!!!" 

He had organized a surprise party!!! His friends were there. My friends were there. 

MY FRIENDS WERE IN ON IT, TOO!!!

Again.

MIND. BLOWN.

And that is our engagement story. Later I would perform Rach3 one last time at that March recital and we were on to planning our wedding. 

Which was unforgettable and perfect in so many ways.

I look back on all those moments with a big smile on my face.

Thanks for reading and listening to me gush about our love story.

God bless Tinder. Who would have thunk?

Ha.

The last two days workouts:

Do what makes you happy.