How We Met
At this moment we still can’t believe that this happened… It all feels so surreal, just like a dream. Let me get started by telling you how we first met. We met each other while volunteering for the Lunar New Year Festival (“Tet in Boston”) planning committee back in 2008. We were both new to the city, away from our beloved country of Vietnam and were trying to be involved with the Vietnamese community so we could help promote and maintain our beautiful heritage, traditions, and culture. We went to different colleges at that point so we never got a chance to hang out outside of our volunteer meetings. We were both busy with our new lives, focusing on school works, and when we saw each other, it was always about getting our volunteer work done. As busy as we were, we decided to come back every year to volunteer for the event for the next three years, and still kept that same routine and “working” relationship. Until one rainy night after our dinner meeting in December 2011. We rarely met at night but it was close to our event in January so we got to push everything harder. It was around 8 PM and raining cats and dogs so another committee member asked me how I was gonna get home. I said I was just going to take the T (Boston subway system) home. Then Hoang suddenly spoke up and said that he could go with me since it was dark and the area could be unsafe. We talked a lot on the train and for the first time ever, really got to know each other. We discovered that we had a lot of things in common, and really enjoyed each other’s company and conversation. Our love story began from that T ride on a rainy night.
how they asked
Hoang’s biggest passion is to take pictures and videos. He’s just always so excited about capturing all the wonderful moments. I still remember that beautiful summer day in July 2016 when he called and woke me up at 6 in the morning so I can go see him try out his new drone in a park near my house. He had just purchased it recently and really wanted to practice flying it more. I was so sleepy and almost told him to go by himself, but I knew that he had spent a lot of time checking the regulations and calling people to get the permission to fly it (since we live within 5 miles of the airport), so I figure I should go and share in the excitement with him! We had to go that early because he didn’t want the drone to interfere with other activities taking place in the park. When we got there, he started to set up the drone, and I found a chair to sit down, still half asleep. From where we were, you could see the beautiful Boston skyline. After 5-10 minutes, he was able to set the drone to automatically fly in a circle around a center point using the “point of interest” feature. Then, he called me over to say hi to the camera. I got excited, came over, and started waving. When I turned around to face him, he suddenly pulled out a small white box from his pocket and started kneeling down. He opened it and showed me the ring. I didn’t expect it at all. I started crying like a baby… I was so surprised and couldn’t believe it. After the fact, he told me that he had planned this idea for a few months and made sure to capture that special moment of us together on the camera. It still feels like a dream to me now. I had never felt happier in my life… At that point, we’d known each other for 7.5 years, and dating for 4.5. We’ve been through so many ups and downs, the sadness, sorrow, arguments, but mostly happiness. We have grown so much together and witnessed each other achieving important milestones in our lives. We have the support and trust in each other that I thought was important to maintain our relationship. My life has changed a lot and become complete with him in it. Thank you this wonderful life for bringing us together. There’s only one person in front of me, but it seems like I already have the whole world. I cannot wait to spend the rest of our lives together and see all the things we will be able to accomplish together. This is the video Hoang recorded and edited all by himself: https://youtu.be/a2OBypE9iHo