How We Met
Carl and I met April 28, 2008 for a summer team building back in college for the same organization we were part of. I was a freshman and he was in his senior year of the same course. We became really close, we share the same principles and values in life, we share the same interests, and we really enjoy talking and being around one another. We became officially together as boyfriend and girlfriend September 3, 2008. We have a very stable relationship. There may be fights but we are mature enough to settle any issues we encounter.
Being with him a third of my life has been the best 8 years of my life. Carl is my best friend, before a boyfriend. I can talk to him about anything, may it be school at that time, work today, family matters, or even the smallest things like which dress looks better for me to wear on a date or in a party. We talk about anything and everything, we prefer to keep our relationship as open as possible, and I can say that is the biggest secret to having this long and healthy relationship with Carl.
how they asked
I have always loved being in times square because it makes me feel alive. That is exactly what i told Carl the day before he proposed. Now, there’s even more reason for me to love New York City.
We planned our US trip to celebrate our 8th anniversary and for the first time, he agreed to go to New York with me. He never joined me in any of my trips to NY for the past years, which I never understood why until today. He wanted our first trip to my favorite city together to be memorable. We traveled from the Philippines and the trip started with visiting Niagara falls, then staying in New York city, before we do the California leg, visiting San Francisco and Los Angeles.
We celebrated our 8th anniversary last September 3, 2016. The day went by like any other day during our trip, it just felt more special because it was our anniversary. We had lunch, went around for some shopping, then went to central park. We rented a bike and went to Bethesda Terrace and Fountain (because I’m a gossip girl fan, I wanted to go to where Chuck married Blair). We enjoyed different performances and just simply walking around the park. We went to The Met after since I’m into fashion and an art lover! He got me the fashion books I wanted and told me that was his anniversary gift (apparently this was just to deflect me from the real surprise). We had to go back to the hotel to freshen up then went to Asiate, Mandarin Oriental for a sunset dinner.
I fell in love with the place, with the view of Central Park and the New York skyline!
The food was amazing, and of course, my date was dashing. Before we ended our dinner, he asked me to call my family to meet up for dessert. We met at Times Square where the proposal happened! It was crazy, I was the one who asked my family to meet up but they knew the plan all along. I was sitting down when Carl asked me to have a photo with him. I was wearing a jacket then, which he asked me to remove. I didn’t want to because it was cold and windy. He just said “Trust me, remove it” and so i did. When I turned around, he was already on his knee, asking me to marry him.
I was so surprised and froze for a minute.
I saw Carl teary eyed and for the first time, I was speechless.
Even more when I saw our photo in one of the jumbotrons with text “Trisha, Will You Marry Me” that other people had to point out.
It felt like I was not there, or more of I couldn’t believe what was happening at that moment. I was looking at the screens without even seeing our photo up there.
I had no idea that was even possible! So after a minute of getting lost, I said “of course” to his question, and hugged him.
We Enjoyed the next few minutes looking at ourselves in one of the screens in Times Square and taking photos.
After 8 years of being with Carl, we can finally plan our lifetime together.
