How We Met
We met almost four and a half years ago in New York City on a warm summer night at a small NYC bar called “The Room”. Unfortunately, “The Room” no longer exists, but our attraction and love for each other has persisted until this day. We were out with friends, and I, typically chatty, struck up conversation with the beautiful girl next to me and learned that she was a teacher like myself, and that she was from Princeton like the school that I was teaching at. Our night and conversation only blossomed from there, and before we knew it we were setting up a second date for that Sunday. Little did we know that life would throw us a curveball and my grandmother would pass away before our date. After soul searching and talking to family, everyone urged me to go out with “her” and that I can make the trip home the next day. Mustering whatever I had inside of me to keep it all together, we spent our afternoon and evening walking by the Hudson, chatting about life and ultimately dancing in the street. It was then that I knew that Allissa was the one for me. We’ve been inseparable since, and I know that Allissa will be my best friend for life.
how they asked
We went to Central Park under the facade that we would be checking out the NYC Marathon finish line (as I would be running the race the next day), and that maybe we could take some pictures of Hudson (our golden retriever puppy) by the Bethesda Fountain. The weather had finally improved, and we thought it would be a great way to stretch our legs and burn off some of Hudson’s energy.
When we arrived there were throngs of tourists snapping photos, and taking up almost every usable inch of the space. I began to panic, “How and when was I ever going to propose?”. Not only that, Hudson had no interest in settling down and behaving when there was a big pond in front of him to play in.
We also had Allissa’s and my family waiting in the wings, and they only could see me repeatedly crouch to try to get Hudson’s attention. Fortunately, Allissa had packed a bag of treats in her bag, and I could grab Hudson’s attention long enough for me to snap the photo below. After grabbing a quick picture, I told Allissa that there was “one more thing” that we needed to do, and at that moment I asked Allissa to spend forever together.
My sister’s friend, and our Photographer, Ben Gabbe, captured the moment absolutely perfectly as you can see the excitement on Allissa’s face, and utter disinterest when Hudson realized it wasn’t a treat for him.
We’re excited we got to share this special moment with so many “new friends”, and got to celebrate intimately with family afterwards. It was a day and a moment that we’ll never forget.
