Alright, alright. It’s been a few weeks, we’ve been basking in our engagement bliss. But I think it’s time I share the story, because the DM’s have been piling up.
Let’s start from the beginning.
I had been back in Pennsylvania with the ‘rents for my birthday, so Gio and I didn’t get to celebrate my 29th year. By the time I had come home, Gio was working 6+ days a week and barely had time to eat a meal. We kept pushing our celebratory weekend off until it was April 24th (my birthday is March 16, btw).
Upon awakening from my slumber, a beautiful bouquet of flowers sat on my countertop with a note “Happy Make Up Birthday Weekend.” He always knows how to put a smile on my face, even when I am grumpy from just waking up.
He goes, “I’ll be back later, I have to run into work” with a story of how his boss will be there so he can’t get out of it. Not going to lie, I was pretty disappointed. “But this was supposed to be my make up birthday weekend!” He assured me he’d only be a couple of hours, and then we’d get on with the festivities. So, I head to our office and started working on some last-minute bachelorette projects for the next weekend.
Around 1pm, he calls and asks me if I can meet him in the city. He sends me the location - it’s The Loeb Boathouse in Central Park. Right then, I had a feeling. *Back story: Central Park is very special to us, because it was where he first told me he was falling for me, nearly 6 years ago.
So now I know I have to get ready and make sure I look good. Then I’m on the subway and kind of pissed that I have to commute by myself to my proposal. How rude, right?! I meet him at the restaurant where he tells me a) we still have a reservation, but b) they had to push it back an hour. We’re sitting on the lawn, and Gio randomly gets pooped on twice by a bird. He’s obviously furious, and I’m trying to calm him down saying it’s good luck.
Finally, we get our table and order some wine. Red for him, rosé for me. We have a gorgeous view of a lake and even a gondola (that’s NY for you). For linner, since it’s 4pm at this point, we order the Tuna Carpaccio and entrees of Baked Salmon with Sauteed Spinach. The food was incredible. And we even followed that up with some classic NY Cheesecake. As the day keeps going, I’m getting less and less convinced that he’s going to make the move.
“Want to take a stroll?” I mean, not really since I’m in a dress and heels, but okay. So we’re wandering around Central Park. He’s looking for some area called The Ramble, which is a bunch of uphill trails and bridges. I was not dressed for this, and it was getting cloudy and cold. With doubt in my head, I blurted out “can we just go home?” He agrees and asks if I can get us out of the park since his GPS isn’t working.
Well, we’re leaving Central Park. And my hopes are squashed. I was upset with myself that my intuition was so off. This is a new feeling for me, because honestly, I am almost always right. (Cue that Pisces life.)
He pulls me aside and asks to reenact our first date at Central Park. I’m leaning against the park wall, we share a few kisses. Then he goes, “Can I have a big boy conversation with you?” Now that doesn’t sound good. He proceeds to tell me that he knows I’ve been wanting to take it to the next level, and he’s there, he’s been there ready to take the next step with me. But he hasn’t found the perfect time. He had wanted to do it in Italy, then Spain but we never went, and then Covid hit. So, he wants to compromise and have a conversation with me about a date we can get engaged. I’m beyond pissed, my arms are crossed. “That’s so unromantic!” I screamed.
“So, I’ve been thinking. We met in the city, we’ve been living in the city. It only makes sense that I ask you the most important question of my life in the city.” At this point, he gets down on one knee and I definitely blacked out. The following is from his recollection when I asked him to repeat it after the fact: “Alyssa, I’ve been in love with you since the first day I saw you in this park. Would you make me the happiest man alive?”
I.was.hysterical. That actually might be an understatement. And I don’t think he expected that, he didn’t even finish his question of asking me to marry him. Of course, I said yes! He placed that marquise-cut canary diamond on my ring finger, and I continued to cry. We had a little crowd watching it all go down and even some super amazing girls that took pictures and videos for us of our big moment.
Once I was able to compose myself, I had some questions and needed answers. One, he did not work that day. He actually met my dad in Penn Station, because he was hand-delivering the ring! Apparently shipping the ring to NYC would have cost Gio an extra few thousand dollars, so he got around that by shipping to Pennsylvania. Luckily, he knew someone there. And two, he didn’t work ALL the hours that he said he did. He actually took a train to NJ and then a cab to my parents’ houses in PA to ask their permission to marry me. I heard my dad was pretty hysterical, and my mom couldn’t believe he traveled all the way there. He responded with, “If you lived in California, I’d book a plane to meet with you about this.” This is the man I’m marrying. How’d I get so lucky?
After celebrating a bit, we headed home to do the let’s-call-everyone-and-tell-them-the-good-news thing. My favorite response was probably Gio’s dad, “I’m not going to say I’m surprised, but I will say I’ve been waiting for this for a long, long time.” Me too, haha! And then we popped some champagne, that had been sitting in our fridge since NYE, and cuddled up to 90 Day Fiancé.
