How we met: On Labor Day Monday, 2012, my family and I had just returned home from our lake house. I had to leave to go back to school the next day to finish my last year of my Master’s degree at Pace University, so I was pretty focused on packing up my things and getting started with school again. When we first got home, our Carbon Monoxide alarm kept going off and would NOT stop. We changed the batteries, cleaned it out, and tried everything, but it kept going. My dad finally said we had to call the Fire Department because obviously something was not right. Minutes later, our local, volunteer Fire Department showed up with 2 trucks, blaring sirens, and tons of firemen trooping up our dead end road and up our driveway. I was of course embarrassed, sitting out on the front porch with my parents because we couldn’t figure out how to work our alarm!
However, I caught eyes with one of the firemen as he was walking up the steps and was immediately ok with the decision to make this call. The guys all went inside with my dad, and after figuring out that the alarm was just old and faulty, that same fireman, who I read on the back of his gear was “B. Mathias,” came outside to chat with my mom and I. I was instantly nervous, which was unusual for me since I’m normally pretty chatty and flirty. Honestly, I remember asking him one question, and feeling like an idiot for not being able to think of anything else to say! Lucky for me, my mom picked up on this and started asking him questions, like where he worked, how many calls the Fire Department gets, and if he knows certain people from around town. All of B. Mathias’ answers were directed towards me, and I was pretty much just sitting there melting, and also impressed with how well spoken and confident he was.
They finally left, and I went back to packing up my things to go back to school, which is 3 1/2 hours away from my hometown. A few days later, B. Mathias and I connected on Facebook (I then found out that the B. stands for Brian,) and started messaging each other. Since I was living in White Plains, going to school and working in downstate, NY, we actually ended up messaging each other on Facebook for a few weeks, then we exchanged phone numbers and began texting each other pretty regularly.
Finally, in the middle of October, I was coming home since I was planning a Grand Opening Event for one of my father’s stores. I told Brian I’d be home, and he immediately asked me where my favorite restaurant in town was. I told him it was a sushi place, and on 10/11/12, we had our first official date at Mitsuba Restaurant in New Hartford! Brian planned an entire night for us, making reservations at the restaurant, then took me to a haunted house (since we both love Halloween, although I am petrified of haunted houses,) it turned out to be a pretty sly move to get us closer together ;) We later ended up just talking (I’m serious!) until 5 in the morning. Since we had been talking for so long, our first date literally felt like we had known each other for so long. I didn’t know this, but he had been up since 5 on the morning of our first date cleaning his truck before he went to work! When we finally got home, he texted me and said he wanted to see me the next day. We made plans to go to breakfast that morning. The rest is history!
how they asked: On June 6th, 2014, I had the most normal day ever. I went to work, shot our monthly commercials for our stores, went to the gym, and was getting ready for what my parents told me would be a nice dinner out with my family and Brian. While I was drying my hair, I heard our smoke detector going off (after finishing school, I moved back home with my parents to save money, ironically around this very time, Brian and I were looking for places to live!) I didn’t think anything of the smoke detector going off, since it had actually done that a few times before (I swear we change our batteries regularly!!) However, a few minutes later, it went off again, and another time. My dad yelled into my room that he was going to have to call the Fire Department because he couldn’t figure it out.
I just thought he was naturally over-reacting, and was again embarrassed, this time because I was dating a fireman so, hello, I should at least know how to handle these things! A few minutes later my parents corralled my brother and I outside to the front porch after he called “911.”
Brian had the entire proposal planned for about a month before he popped the question. He first asked both of my parents for permission, and then told them what he was thinking about doing. He had my dad go out and buy a smoke detector that he could set off from the other room so my brother and I wouldn’t see it. My mom came up with the idea to tell me that we were going to dinner since she knew I probably would have just changed into yoga pants, sans makeup after showering! He then signed a fire
truck out for driver training, and asked 2 of his brothers, nephew, and the Assistant Fire Chief that was there the night we met to accompany him. He waited in the parking lot of the Elementary School that is a block away from my house, and pretended to be 911 when my dad called to tell him we needed help!
A few minutes later, I hear the sirens go off from a distance and texted Brian, (oh, he also told me that he would be at the Fire Department doing a few things that evening, so I knew he would be on this call,) “this is so embarrassing, but I’ll see you soon!” The fire truck rolled down our driveway, and out trooped all of the guys in their fire gear. They all get up to our house with giant grins on their faces, and I could tell that Brian was incredibly nervous, which instantly made ME incredibly nervous. Brian asked me if this scene looked familiar, and I just stared at him and laughed and said yes, yes it does! He then told me that from the moment he met me, he knew he wanted to be with me, and that he wants to be with me forever. He then got down on one knee and asked the question everyone wants to hear, “will you marry me?” I jumped up and immediately said YES! We’ll be getting married on July 11th (since 11 seems to be our lucky number with our first date being on that day and all,) at the Otesaga Hotel in Cooperstown, NY!
