The Proposal took place on the beautiful coast of Costa Rica, with our close friends Bri and Lance. Bri and I were swaying in a hammock under two palm trees while Tony and Lance took off metal detecting, something I did not want to participate in. As they passed us by, Tony said “wish me luck” and I said “yeah, yeah, go find me a diamond ring”, not knowing what was about to happen. Five minutes later, Lance runs over to us and says “guys, guys come quick, Tony found something”, to which I responded “Absolutely not. I am not moving from my hammock”. It took some time for Bri to convince me to get off my lazy butt and walk towards where Tony was digging a giant hole. I dragged my feet as we approached and thought to myself “what could he possible have found? A beer can again? A lobster trap per usual?”. Tony turned towards me, already on one knee and said “I already found my treasure, it’s you!”! I caught the glimpse of a sparkle underneath a seashell that he lifted, to present a beautifully blinding diamond ring. My first words, in classy Masha fashion “no f’ing wayyyy”, followed by “well put it on!”. We hugged and cried as we made a brand new promise to each other. November, 20th, 2019, we simply can’t wait!

Tony, the bear, the caveman, my kushkush, I call you many things, but I absolutely cannot wait to have the honor of calling you my husband. I feel like everything in my life has led me to you. Despite living only two blocks away from each other 25 years ago in Providence, despite working and promoting the nightlife industry in Boston, despite having mutual friends, somehow it took this long to find our way to each other. While the road was filled with twists and turns, ups, downs, heartbreaks and lessons, it was worth the hike because it led to you. Crazy, wild, unfiltered, untamable, caring, understanding, loyal, you. When I first saw you that Derby Day, wearing a white shirt and red pants…drunkenly licking the inside of a window as I was waiting in line to get into SoHI, I thought “who is that crazy fool”. Little did I know that I would be sitting next to the crazy fool, drinking a 7 liter bottle of rosé and meeting who I now consider my lifelong friends. When you “accidentally” spilled those fries on my brand new Kate Spade dress, the entire table went silent, and I couldn’t believe you wasted a perfectly good plate of fries (priorities = fries > dress, as you now know). Here we are today, three years later, about to embark on one of our most exciting and memorable adventures - planning our wedding. My heart bursts with excitement every time I think about next November. I can’t wait for our forever to begin.

Masha, where do I start? Our relationship has been an amazing roller-coaster filled with happiness, love, amazing adventures and of course moments of wanting to kill each other. You make me laugh, you make me happy, and you bring out the best in me. I never thought that I could connect on such an amazing level with a woman in the world, and yet here you are, a petite blond girl that found the way to my heart - even though you haven’t discovered the way to my stomach yet, ask your grandma about that. While we were kids we lived a few blocks away from each other in Providence, most probably we saw each other multiple times, maybe even talked to each other, but it took over 25 years for us to connect here in Boston. Even though you use to work in the night life and I use to party every night, somehow destiny left it until the last minute, until we both absolutely needed each other, and made it happen. It’s like God was looking for the perfect two rhythms to put together to create an amazing song and that song is our love and life together forever. With all the ups and downs in life, I know I can and will be able to rely on you to be by my side forever, and for that I can’t wait to call you my wife.