How We Met
It’s been a long journey for us. Brody and I go all the way back to grade three when I moved to the area. Throughout public school, we were always good friends. In the summer of 2010, we were at the end of a year “party,” and he gave me my first kiss and asked me to be his girlfriend. Later on, as any 13-year-olds do, we broke up for some stupid reason.
Although, on NYE we became boyfriend and girlfriend again! Eventually, we figured out we were going to different high schools and didn’t think we could handle the distance at such a young age. Plus, there’s a bunch of other people in the world right?
Fast forward to the summer of 2011 before we started high school, and Brody was umpiring my brother’s baseball game. After the game, we caught up just like old times and started to chat on MSN a couple of times a week. He truly was a great listener, my best friend and was there for me.
At the start of grade 9 (freshmen year), I would have to transfer buses to go home and of course, the stop was at his school. I would run into him every so often, and when I didn’t, I would look for him every day. Fast forward again to grade ten (sophomore year), and I got on the bus for my first day of school. All I saw was his smiling face at the back of the bus. We then quickly figured out that at the end of the day, I would have to transfer to his school and then wait about 45 minutes until our bus got there to take us home. We spent that time walking around the halls of the school, talking about our day, our dreams, and everything else, but our feelings for each other. I was mainly scared because we had tried so many times before and each time after I felt that I lost him as a friend. We both tried to see other people and it didn’t work. At one point, he told me he loved me, and that was that. For the first time in my life, taking the bus home wasn’t so bad.
In February of 2013, I had to score keep my brother’s hockey game not far from his house. Whoever was supposed to do the clock didn’t show up. It just so happened that I was texting him at that time and asked him if he would come and help me. My parent’s, totally suspicious as to why I was talking to Brody again, went and picked him up (and yes, him scorekeeping with me later became a thing). Little did my parents know what was down the line…
After lots of times asking and me saying no, we were at a semiformal dance at his school. I went with some of my friends from my soccer team who went to both schools. He found out I was going and I’m pretty sure he bought a ticket on the morning of. We talked and flirted the majority of the night, but a girl kept texting him. He said he couldn’t get her to leave him alone, and I literally blurted out, just tell her you to have a girlfriend. He didn’t say anything for literally a minute, and he kept saying, “really?” That’s the moment I made him pinky promise to not break my heart. March 1, 2013.
After that we did the short distance, meaning we maybe saw each other once a week or so, every so often on the bus rides home for that year. For our last two years, the bus route changed and we weren’t on the same bus. We were also very busy with extracurriculars and I was very dedicated to my studies so spending time with one another was very limited.
Later, I started university two hours away. He decided to work for a year, so this allowed him to come down every couple of weeks to visit until he decided to go to college six hours away. The long-distance was hard and probably the worst thing that any couple can go through. But on September 1, 2019, after 6.5 years of distance, we moved into our first place together, and couldn’t be happier.
How They Asked
We never did the pick post-graduation trip as planned so we decided to take a couple of days and go to New York City. I had the itinerary laid out in a spreadsheet, passports were packed, and we were good to go! Little did I know that about a week before when we visited home and I was out, Brody went over to my parent’s place to receive their blessing. On the other end, our two close guy friends were trying to persuade him not to propose at the airport if security stopped him (HAHA). I never really thought anything of it because he isn’t necessarily the big gesture type, and I told him we have to live together for six months before anything.
I did have some clues though, and a weird feeling at some points. Before we left, he asked me if I was going to get my nails done for New York. Weird? But I had also been complaining about needing a manicure so I put it off. Then, at the hotel later (he didn’t get stopped by security) I was looking for my water bottle in his bag, and he snapped at me to look in the other pocket… I was like okay, man chill, relax. We are here… I just assumed he was stressed about the travel.
On our first morning, I asked him what he thought I should wear. He gave no input whatsoever. So I chose running shoes, jeans, and my leather coat because we had planned for a lot of walking that day. We walked to Times Square, stopped for bagels, and then continued on our way to Central Park as planned. He knew I wanted to find the Bethesda Terrace and Fountain so that was the plan. We were enjoying the beauty of Central Park, however, he kept “checking the maps” for directions on his phone. I literally got mad at him to take it all in as I am stopping at every corner and taking a picture of every building and tree. Little did I know that he was talking to our photographer and letting her know that we were going to be late because I was being slow.
Finally, we arrived at the fountain and I was super disappointed because they were doing seasonal work, cleaning it, and it was not pretty. Brody kept walking though, so I followed him to the river area. There he asked me if I wanted to take a picture…weird, only because I am usually the one who asks. He asked the lady with a camera, which wasn’t out of the ordinary since as a photographer myself, I prefer asking people to take pictures of us who have a camera in hand.
At first, he wanted to face the fountain, but I was like no, no it’s dirty. Then, I saw his hands shaking. We take a photo and then he turns towards me. He said something like, I know you wanted to wait six months and it’s a little early, but I want to spend forever with you…*insert my full name* (at this point I am literally saying, what are you doing, what are you doing, and laughing because I am pretty sure I blacked out). He then asked me if I would marry him and I am pretty sure I nodded yes. After he stood up I started crying because I finally realized what had just happened.
I was so blown away and shocked. I just got engaged in Central Park!! After that, we had an hour shoot with our photographer in Central Park and then we spent the day around the city as planned, enjoying each other’s company as an engaged couple, while everyone else back home had no idea what was happening.
It was honestly nice that we could enjoy it ourselves before our phones started blowing up. That night we went to an NHL game and when we got home we Facetimed our families and that was that. We were engaged!!!
