How we met: I remember the exact moment we met. Anna and I were RAw together at USC, and she sat next to me at orientation. At that time, he was still very shy around boys. During the presentation, she crossed her legs, which left her knee in contact with mine. She looked down to our knees, then over to me. She very politely asked me if it was okay that she put her knee there. I had observed all this, and found it quite hilarious, but was able to keep my composure. I looked at her, put my hand on her shoulder, and in all seriousness, assured her that I was fine with it. We both smiled at the absurdity of our predicament… that smile was the beginning.
From that moment, we developed an incredibly close friendship that lasted 7 years. We were there for one another as we went in and out of other relationships. Our big joke was that we would be each others backup plan, and get married if we reached 35 without a spouse. However, last year, as we began spending more time with each other, we both found ourselves anxious to move that deadline up, until one fateful night when I found myself grabbing her and kissing her. She kissed back, which lead to the best year of my life, and prompted…
how they asked: Anna has worked hard to put herself in a very good position in life. Meanwhile, I have been traveling and then trying to get my feet under me professionally. It has lead to some interesting trials, and I haven’t been able to be perfect for her in a lot of ways. However, she has never wavered in standing by me, and I knew that I could make the proposal perfect for her… so I went for it.
She loves when I sing to her, so I started there. I reached out to all the music groups at USC, and landed in the capable hands of the A Capella community. It started with a meeting with one member of one group, but as I told him my ideas I could see his eyes lighting up with excitement. This snowballed into meetings with the other groups, which ended in more excitement, and over 100 voices at my disposal.
Luckily, the groups had a big concert coming up, so we decided to work out a Grand Finale at that event. The hardest part ended up being keeping all of the coordinating and practicing I was doing a secret from her, but I was able to get all the way to the event without blowing it. The night of, with a knot in my stomach, sweating hands and a dry throat, they called us up onto the stage… and the rest is history.
I think the thing that most overwhelmed me was how relatively easy things came together for this relatively big production. I have worked with a lot of people in a lot of different capacities at this point, and in most every case it becomes like pulling teeth to get things done. Yet every crazy idea I had for the proposal was accommodated with no questions asked… why?
When I got down on that knee, and that crowd erupted, it all made sense to me… love is the answer. Love is what we are all looking for, in one form or another. It is what carries us through this life, and a chance to celebrate it in such an overt way was what I believe drew everyone into this.
