How We Met
Marc and I knew of each other through our social circles for a few years but didn’t become friendly until the spring of 2016. I remember always being especially intrigued by my interactions with him. I listened a little more intently and laughed a little more genuinely. However, his “party guy” tendencies made me keep my distance.
Eventually, I got to see his true colors. We were out for a mutual friend’s birthday and found ourselves locked in conversation the whole night. I realized his intelligence, his interests, and most importantly, his sense of humor, were things I hadn’t be able to find in others that I dated. He asked me on a date that night, and I said yes.
In a world where texting is a dominant form of communication, I was pleasantly surprised when he called to schedule our date. Marc likes to joke that I completely threw him off his game because he didn’t actually expect me to answer! We talked for almost an hour that night and planned to scratch our original idea of going to a trendy restaurant nearby and instead go to a spin class and an outdoor pizza place. Pretty quickly, we became inseparable and began to build our beautiful relationship.
(Photo: The day after our first date, we both attended a social event in Philadelphia. We wanted the night to keep going, so after we split from friends, we hit up a late night dinner!)
how they asked
Moving our relationship forward to an engagement was something that I desperately wanted, but I was also terrified of the emotions that occasion might bring. I lost my father to a sudden heart attack in May of 2017, and shortly after, I lost his mother, my grandmother in March of 2018. It weighed very heavy on me that these two important people in my life would not be present for one of the most special days of my life. I convinced myself that our engagement day would be one filled with many tears, both of happiness and sadness.
On a completely random Wednesday morning in August 2018, my alarm went off and I rolled over into Marc’s arms like I always did. He started to kiss my head and say all sorts of sweet things. Still groggy and barely awake, I dismissively responded, “that’s nice, honey.” Marc continued his words, slowly slipped off the bed saying, “I love you so much and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” Next thing I know he was on his knee at the bedside with a ring box. I bounced upright, rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, and squeaked out, “WHAT?!” He placed the ring on my finger and we fell back into the bed, drowning in kisses, smiles, laughter… and more, “WHAT?!???!!!”
(Photo: Moments after I said yes!)
From there, to my TRUE surprise, Marc had an entire day planned for us. He brought in champagne as we called our families, then told me to get dressed and ready as a photographer was coming to our home. After our impromptu photo shoot, we went to New York City for a brunch with friends and to see “Hamilton” on Broadway (all an ode to our first few weeks of dating), and then returned to Philadelphia for a private dinner with close family and friends.
I felt my father’s and grandmother’s presence throughout the day and could do nothing but smile. No tears of any kind. Only love and happiness.
