Her Story:

We were celebrating our 2 year anniversary and Tommy made reservations for dinner at the Central Park Boathouse. During summer, Central Park does not allow cars into the park due to foot traffic, so Tommy and I commuted by train and took the complementary shuttle service to the restaurant. For this reason, I wore flip-flops so I could keep up with Tommy’s much quicker “New Yorker” pace. (Trust me…this is relevant to the story).

It was a beautiful summer day, so Tommy suggested we walk around to kill some time before our reservation. We found ourselves in front of the Bethesda Fountain overlooking the Central Park Boathouse. We sat down in front of the fountain and Tommy gave me a penny to throw into the fountain to make a wish. After I threw my coin, I turned to see Tommy on his knee starting to ask me to marry him.

Now at this moment, I asked him to stop (yes, you read right! I asked him to stop)! The reason: I needed to switch my shoes from flip-flops to my dressy shoes. Crazy…yes! Weird…absolutely! But as Tommy was patiently standing there watching me being predictably unpredictable, I knew what answer I would give him if he decided to ask again. He did =)

His Story:

I knew when the time came to ask Flor to marry me I had to do the respectful thing and ask her mom for permission. I wanted to wait to right before I proposed because I know a pending proposal is a hard secret to keep. I had to figure a way to get Flor out of the house…but how? Fle of course!! So I contacted Felicia (Flor’s good friend) on Facebook and told her to get Flor out of the house so I could ask her mom. When I was going to talk to Mrs. Mejia, I must admit I was not that nervous. After all, I loved Flor and I always got along really well with her family. I arrived at her house and her mom asked me what I wanted to talk about. I started to tell her how much I loved her daughter and that is when her sister (Marissa) yelled “you’ re going to ask Flor to marry you!!!” Needless to say her mom gave me permission and many hugs were given that night, even a few to her beloved dog Chewy (who ironically almost bite me the first time we met).

So now the big day. I made reservations at the Central Park Boathouse in NYC. Flor had mentioned she always wanted to go there. I scouted out the perfect place close to the Boathouse to propose and found a nice big fountain with plenty of room to ask the big question. I told Flor where we were going for our 2nd Anniversary. She asked if we would be walking a lot. I thought nothing of it and said we might be walking around to look at the sights in Central Park.

We had to take a shuttle from the subway to the Boat House. For some reason when we got on the Shuttle, I started to get a little nervous for no particular reason. I was still trying to figure out exactly what I was going to say and she kept asking when she should put her nice shoes on. I was not paying attention and responded, “I don’t know, whenever you want”.

Once we got to the restaurant, my mind was set on one goal. Get…To…The…Fountain. Flor was talking and mentioned something about Dr. Who, but all I kept thinking was Get To Fountain…Fountain! When we finally got to the fountain, I handed her a penny to throw so that I could distract her while I took the ring out of my pocket.  When she turned, I grabbed her hand and started to tell her how much I loved her and how much she meant to me. At this point, with a small smirk on her face, she told me to stop. Stop? Then she said “I told you to tell me when to put my nice shoes on!” (what can I say the girl likes her shoes). I laughed and watched the girl I love put on her nice shoes. Then I got on one knee and asked her to marry me. After the initial shock, we started telling everyone who passed that were were engaged. After taking in the view and soaking it all in, we enjoyed a very nice dinner.

After dinner we were so excited, Flor wanted to drive down to AC to tell her mom and aunties the good news. It was worth it to see her mom and her auntie’s reaction of our engagement when we finally arrived (2 hours later).