|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
To understand how we got engaged, you must first understand how we celebrated our one year anniversary. For our one year anniversary, I had surprised Julia with a night's stay at the Plaza Hotel on 5th Ave & Central Park South. Upon her entering the room, she was greeted with a dozen pink roses in a glass vase. On the nearby armoire sat a bottle of South African wine and two wine glasses. We attended a lovely and quaint dinner downstairs at 1CPS. I then treated her to a screening of Amelie at the nearby Paris Theatre. That weekend, I explained in no uncertain terms that I wanted to ask her to marry me.
I shared that I would ask at some point in 2002 but to be any more specific would ruin the surprise of the proposal.
Thus, I asked her to give me an idea of what she was looking for in a ring and give me her ring size. After that, we would never talk about it or discuss it again as any further mention would still inhibit the surprise. All her information was handed to me within two weeks. Because of the great lengths I went to pamper her for our one year, Julia would not be expecting a ring anytime soon.
You see... this was all part of The Plan. There is a journal entry dated October 2001 in which I declared I would not only ask Julia to marry me on Valentine's Day but that I would execute the 1 Year Anniversary Plaza plan just to deflect suspicion away from the real prize.
She would have no idea it was coming and I intended to play this to my advantage. I picked up the ring on February 2nd and had to hold onto it for 12 days. The restraint was one of the greatest challenges I've faced in recent
memory but I managed to hold off. On Sunday, February 10th, I telephoned
Mr. & Mrs. Bengis to inform them of my intentions and to ask for their blessing. They were ecstatic and we had a wonderful conversation
that only enhanced my enthusiasm for becoming a member of their
family. When Julia asked
me what she would like us to do for Valentine's Day, I did my best
to remain non-chalant. I casually mentioned I'd stumbled upon this
restaurant in my neighborhood of Williamsburg that I'd kinda like
to take her to. She was fine with it; I said I'd call to make reservations
even though I'd already done it a week before. Hunting for a location
specifically for this event, I had found this five star Italian restaurant called Giando's located right on the East River underneath the Williamsburg
Bridge overlooking the entire Manhattan skyline. When we arrived
on Thursday night and she took in the elegant and romantic ambience,
we were seated at a quiet space in the corner. I ordered us a couple
of glasses of wine. Once we had the wine on the table, I knew the
moment of truth had arrived. "So I wanted
to do a toast - to Valentine's Day, to our 13 month anniversary,
and it's something else. It was one year ago tonight - on Thursday
night before President's Day weekend - that we went for a drink in the Village and for the first time, I told you I love you... and it was the first time we admitted to each other that we'd thought
about going the full distance with each other. So to commemorate all of that..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
