I'd been ring shopping for about two months when I happened upon "the ring". It just jumped out at me. So much so, I almost bought it on impulse. Instead, I asked them to put it on hold & began surveying everyone I knew who didn't talk to Kaitlyn on a daily basis. (i.e. co-workers & family) In short: I was lost and asking everyone for directions.
Not Losing the Ring
The ring past through a type of mini inquisition; I was soliciting advice from everywhere. I must say, Dad delivered, he offered two great pieces of advice:
1) Never let finance get in the way of romance
2) Never propose in a parking lot (as he did)
For me that cemented it, I bought the ring. He also warned me that if I did buy the ring it would be burning a hole in my pocket until I proposed. I rarely admit this but he was right. I was like a teenager with a pocketful of allowance. I was toying with idea of surprising Kaitlyn when/if she decided to visit her good friend Thalia in New York. This quickly changed from a vague "wouldn't it be nice if" notion into a serious plan. Now all I had to do was keep it hidden from Kaitlyn. That is easier said than done in a 600 sq/ft apartment.
The Conspiracy
What can I say about Thalia? She is an amazing sweet, creative & caring friend. The problem was she was Kailtyn's amazing sweet, creative, caring friend, not mine. Thalia and I had only meet twice and briefly at that. I stole her number from Kaitlyn's phone. We spent the week leading up to the trip planning out all the little details. By the time, I reach New York we were thick as thieves. Kaitlyn was none the wiser; as she very awkwardly pointed out (after the proposal) "I thought you hated each other?" She had to back pedal so fast, I could swear I heard tires screeching.
The Plan
It's 4:00 a.m. on Saturday morning & I'm driving Kaitlyn to the airport to catch her flight to New York. Little does she know I'm hopping on a plane in 12 hours and following her there. Before I tell you what the plan was let me tell you a little about my co-conspirator Thalia. Thalia works for Dean and Duluca and writes for New York magazine about food. This makes her essentially the queen of all things tasty. While I was born more or less without a sense of taste. I had this vision (my previously mentioned vague notion) of surprising her with a beautiful picnic and proposal in Central Park. No sooner did I say those words did Thalia make it happen. She put together an unbelievable basket of cheese, chocolates, crackers.... you name it. It would be better than I could imagine unless of course it rained.
The Park
It rained. Everything had gone perfect. I made it to New York. Kaitlyn was still in the dark. Thalia had put together the most amazing assortment of food I'd ever seen. But now it was raining, I was standing at the Center South Entrance to the park and looking at the text message from Thalia "What do we do now?” We'd talked about back up plans but I still wasn't willing to part with the idea. I was 100 yards from my goal, I had to press on. I texted Thalia back & bought an umbrella.
It's 5:15 on Sunday. Thalia was meant to bring Kaitlyn here 15 minutes ago under the guise of a festival. But the weather had thrown everything out of wack and from the sounds of Thalia's last text Kaitlyn was busy shopping. She is a really big fan of H&M. Besides, who would want to go the park when it was raining? As fate would have it, both Kaitlyn's shopping habit & the rain turned out to be a blessing.
The Surprise
It's 6:00 p.m. Sunday and I'm in the South Central section of Central Park. Thank god it rained. The timing was perfect; the rain cleared almost everyone out of the park leaving alone in this grassy knoll overlooking the pond. It was, for lack of a better word, perfect. Kaitlyn and Thalia had made it. As they walked in everything I'd practice saying and doing fled my mind. How was I going to get her attention? Sure I was the only person around but I was a good 40 yards from the path. That isn't a problem for most people but at 40 yards I could be anyone to Kaitlyn. So I did the first thing that popped into mind, I yelled her name. Thank god, she is as deaf as she is blind (just teasing). Here was this romantic gesture I'd put everything into and I almost ruined it by shouting one better than "Hey you!".
When Kaitlyn did see me, she was shocked. I'm fairly sure that until that moment I'd never really seen anyone do a "double take". Kaitlyn turned to Thalia and ask "Is that Ian?" sure enough Thalia played dumb, "I don't know". She slowly walked to me. Her face slowly changed from puzzlement to utter shock. I'd spent the past two months trying to convince Kaitlyn that I couldn't possible propose for at least 6 - 8 months. She would later confess that she wondered if it would ever happen.
On my knee I asked Kaitlyn to be my wife. At this point, the tears were streaming and I swear she never even looked at the ring before saying yes. This was one of the happiest moments of my life.
Well, as you can tell I could go on. Don't worry I won't. How we got home is completely different story. I'll save that one for later.
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