The Proposal Story
She Said…
May 13th. It was a beautiful spring day, and the weather was finally warm enough to be outside without a jacket. Schuyler had been going city crazy and wanted to get out of Manhattan to breathe fresh air and hear something other than ambulances sirens and car horns…a picnic in our local park was exactly what we needed. 
It’s a lovely park with a grassy hill, gazebo, permanent stone ping pong table (only in NYC), and dog park. Schuyler ordered our favorite sparkling wine (Mums Blue Label from CA), and we made a basket of cheese and crackers and chocolates. Now, this was a splurge in more ways than one. Schuyler and I had been on a Paleo diet, so we had not been eating cheese, crackers, or sweets and had limited alcohol. Today, we were going all out.
We packed our goodies and dog (Radar) and headed to the gazebo. We sat down, and I made cheese and cracker designs on these blue sea glass dishes and set them out. Schuyler wanted to just dump the crackers out, but I wanted everything to look pretty (I know, such a girly thing to do) since this was a treat. I refilled the plate a few times, each time breaking the crackers in two and making a beautiful (if I do say so myself) design around the plate. We’re chatting for an hour or so, and Schuyler starts to look ill. I ask if he’s ok, and he abruptly gets up and proceeds to dump the remainder of the box of crackers onto the plate. I look up and laughingly say, “Well, that’s aggressive.” Then I look down at the plate of crackers and see a diamond ring in amongst the crackers. I gasp and look up at Schuyler, and he is on one knee.
As they say, the rest is history…except for a surprise ending. He asks, and I say yes. Normal so far. But then he asks if I am sure. I say, “This isn’t how it happens in the chick flicks.” and start to laugh. Then, I say that I’m sure, and he asks, “Are you certain enough to write it in stone?” At this point, I think he has had way too many cheese and crackers and is losing it. The first thing that pops into my mind is that he wants to write with the diamond on glass to prove it’s real. I am at a loss for words, but I go along with it. I look at him and tentatively nod that I am sure enough to write it in stone. He then lifts up the corner of the blanket to reveal a cobblestone that he has engraved with, “Dizzy Dee, will you marry me?” (Below it in Hebrew)” I always knew” (hence the name for our website 
). What a great ending, and we laughed for an hour about how I insisted on slowly eating the crackers and cheese, all the while he is trying to propose. We women make things so difficult…but it’s all worth it.
He Said…
It all started with an innocent conversation during a presentation in San Diego, CA. With no expectation of ever seeing her again, I figured she’d end up as a nice picture of life’s pleasant moments. It seems that fate had a different story to tell. Less than a month later I ran into her again – only this time it was in Orlando FL. An unlikely rendezvous, four happily single folks (Sean, Naomi, Deanna, and myself), went to check out a penthouse suite at the Marriott. Naomi, my friend from CA, got a free upgrade. Sean,a friend from my job at the time, thought
Naomi was hot, and I wasn’t quite ready to say goodnight to the pretty lady I’d been dancing with. Standing outside the balcony talking to Sean, I knew there was something special about her. Today I blame it on the Champaign or the pizzas we had delivered to the room because fast-forward a year later Sean up and moved to CA to be with Naomi and Deanna and I moved to NYC. I couldn’t get her off my mind. So after a week and half of playing “you’ve go mail” I found out she lived 4 metro stops away from me in Washington DC. On Halloween 2008 I went out as a gay, homeless, Scottish leprechaun (long story…) and went home a boy falling for a girl.
Two years later I knew it was time to start my plan in action. I spent a good 3-4 months of reconnaissance; I wanted to buy the ring she’d love forever. And for those who know me – you know I couldn’t very well ask her what ring she wanted. And for those of you who know Deanna she has fantastic taste in jewelry, but it’s, how shall we say, specific. Quite the predicament. Luckily, I knew of an amazing jeweler in Carmel ,CA (Kocek Jewelers) who would end up designing the most beautiful ring I’ve ever imagined. So in July of 2010 Kenny (best bud) and I took a trip down to see him with a list of 30 things I wanted this ring to encompass, including for him to some how incorporate the Hebrew for “I Always Knew” into the filigree of the ring. His answer… yea we can do that.
And the count down began. The ring came in April. I had it delivered to one of Kocek’s friends in the diamond district and took it directly to a safety deposit box. I’ve seen way to many chick flicks with Deanna to know what happens when you try to hide that thing around the house. I opened that box and literally cried, which really makes me the girl in the relationship this time because Dee bore no tears when she saw it… Seeing that beautiful ring made everything real for me like the flip of a switch. Sure I knew what I was doing when I bought it, but there is something about holding the reality in your hands to … well make a grown man cry. Ha.So like I said… game on. Earlier I opened the crackers, cut a small hole, and placed the ring in. Then I glued the box shut like it had never been opened. That’s one box of crackers you don’t want to loose. I invited Radar, our dog, mainly because I wanted to have the picnic on the engraved stone, and needed an excuse NOT to have it on the nice soft grass. No dogs allowed on the grass meant Radar became my wingdawg. I had this all picture perfect. I show up earlier and cover the stone with the blanket. I cut the cheese, and she’s going to dump the crackers out on the plate, the ring would come out, and I would propose. Then I could spend the rest of the picnic telling her how everything came together. Yeah right! I had a couple conversations prepared in case it took a little while for us to start eating, but that wasn’t enough.Still keeping this on the DL only a few select people knew about my plans to propose, the pressure was building. It had been a year since I started planning this and with a month left I growing more excited, nervous, happy, nervous, elated, nervous… did I mention nervous? First week in May, the Champaign I ordered from California (Mumms – our favorite) showed up for our picnic date. On May 8th the stone I had engraved the park was finally placed and it was game on. Which brings me to May 13th. At this point there was so much going on in my head and stomach that I failed to notice it happened to be Friday the 13th, but I’m sure in some cultures that’s good luck! As it turns out later, it was for me when she said yes.
So she pulls out the plate, opens the crackers, and (pause) takes like 5 crackers out! Breaks them in half! And neatly places them on the plate. I’m like what!?! Playing it cool I jump into my prepared conversations, while making the 1000 butterflies in my stomach fly something of a formation. I quickly eat those and she reaches for the crackers again… I’m like this is it! She sticks her hand in and (pause) 5 more crackers. I ask, “Why don’t you just dump all the crackers out?” she responds with a because she doesn’t want to kind of answer and I’m thinking, “Of all the times to be stubborn you’re gonna pick today!” Fast-forward an hour! I’m sick to the point of almost puking, especially since she as any normal person stops eating the cheese and crackers, but I have to keep stuffing my face hoping that the next handful of crackers will be the one. Finally, I’m like I CAN’T STAND IT! So I dump the crackers out, hop onto my knee while she tells me I’m being aggressive and pick up the ring. So then I say, “Bam baby that’s what I’m talking about!” JK. What I really said was full of awkward, broken, attempts to tell her how she’s the one, I’ve always known, and asking if she’s down to keep the party going till death do us part. Give or Take. I have known some awkward times in my life – this beats them all. Whatever smoothness I’ve acquired throughout my life had managed to escape me. But despite all that, she said Yes!
And as the fairy tails say; they lived happily ever after.
