How We Met
We met 3 years ago through mutual Czech friends. I am originally raised in the Czech Republic and he is from there. In 10 years of living in NYC, I met my best friend Vita who is also from the Czech Republic and she got engaged to a guy from our country. Well, Tom happens to be his childhood classmate. Long story short, on the weekend of May 19th, 2017 Vita and her fiance, and my boyfriend of 4 years and I planned a couples weekend in Woodstock. Tom had planned to visit Vita and her fiance from Switzerland, however, because they had forgotten, we decided to let him crash our couples weekend. At the time we had no idea this weekend start a connection that would later turn into a lifetime – he was in a 2-year toxic relationship at the time, and I was in a long 4-year relationship. It was a really fun weekend – and after the weekend we connected on Facebook and stayed in touch over the years.
Last year my grandfather got sick and I was planning to go to Prague to visit him in the hospital, my best friend had since got married to her fiance and they relocated to Prague – so without hesitating I reached out to her and her husband as well as Tom to see if they were in town during my visit. If you’re wondering my boyfriend of 5 years did not travel with me he decided to stay in NYC. My best friend was in Prague, however, Tom was traveling for work throughout Europe and had just visited Prague, so at first, he said he would not be there. After two days, he wrote to me again, said he changed his plans and would come to see me and hang out.
On September 19th, 2019, we landed one hour apart, went home and made plans to meet at a lecture his friend was giving – however fun twist my mom decided to come along. So first time hanging out in Prague my mom was there. Ironically, she knew the minute she met him that he was in love with me. But not to jump ahead, we were still in relationships and very much only friends. We spend the weekend hanging out every day and talking about life – and I realized after 5 years with my boyfriend I was ready for the next step – marriage and kids. Tom realized his toxic relationship was still not working and that he was ready to move on with his life. Unfortunately, the last day of my visit my grandfather passed, but it seems to me that his passing sparked something new.
I flew back to New York, and Tom to Switzerland, we stayed in touch every day, and it’s like since being in Prague together our lives synced. The same weekend I confronted my boyfriend with wanting to move into the next step of our relationship, he confronted his toxic relationship. Needless to say, we both broke up with our partners that weekend. This opened the door for endless possibilities – looking back now I can’t believe how quickly everything happened. We spoke every day, two weeks later he flew to New York and wouldn’t leave without me becoming his girlfriend. We saw each other every two weeks from then on, meeting in Mexico, him meeting my whole family over Christmas in Florida, I flew to Switzerland to meet his family.
I couldn’t eat, sleep, focus, I was so in love I felt like a giddy school girl. A feeling I had never felt before with anyone. So in February 2019- I quit my job and relocated to Switzerland where we have been living since, a life in which he has reconnected me back to my Czech roots, and I have become so much closer to nature I love.
How They Asked
It was day two of our four-day safari and it was November 19th, 2019, we were on our way to Ngorongoro Crater, and stopped on the border between parks for breakfast at a rest stop. We unpacked our breakfast boxes, and I noticed we each had our names on them – which we hadn’t had the previous day. I opened my box and saw that mine had a small extra box in it that the guide and Tom didn’t have. My mind started racing – is this the moment? I grabbed the box and was like what’s this and put in on the picnic table between us, as Tom answered: “I don’t know”. I went to our car to get eye drops because my eyes were itching and I couldn’t stop smiling thinking this is it. But since Tom was trying to be so nonchalant about it, I wanted to play with him a little – so I came back and left the box sitting there for about 15 minutes.
Finally, I asked again, what is this – so he urged me to look. I opened the box and there shining back at me was the most perfect engagement ring I ever dreamed of. I could tell he was nervous, but so was I – it was so beautiful. He put the ring on me smiling – but I totally forgot to ask the question. So I asked him – “and what do I do with this?” and he asked “well will you marry me?” not a second went by and I said yes. And that’s that – funny thing is the first thing I asked was do my parents know and he said no! His do! So I woke my Mom up in Florida on facetime because she was the first I had to share the amazing news with.
