It was a beautiful hot sunny day in August and I decided to head to Long Beach boardwalk with (my then 16-month old) Kian. I packed a bag, put the stroller in the car and started to head out. While pulling out of the driveway, I made a last minute decision to head to our local park, Bay Park, instead. So after a quick drive, I parked the car and we began our walk. As we were strolling along the canal, I noticed a little boy (Gabriel) in a life vest who appeared to be alone! I asked him where his mommy and daddy were and he told me he was crabbing with his daddy. I looked around and asked where his daddy was and he pointed to a car that was parked behind us. Out comes his daddy (Andy...shirtless!) with equipment needed to go crabbing. We sparked up a casual conversation for a few minutes and then I continued on my walk with Kian. We stopped at the playground for a while and after some time we started our walk to head back to the car. Low and behold, Andy and Gabriel were still there! We began talking again and Gabriel was eager to show us the crabs he caught. Within a few minutes Andy suggested that we get the kids together for a play date one day (nice one, Andy 😉). So, we exchanged numbers and have been together ever since! I don’t know what made me change my plan that day, but I am so happy I did!!

It was a beautiful hot sunny day...I remember that too! Me and Gabriel had gone fishing earlier that year at Jones Beach and I told him that we were going to try something new; that we’d catch some blue crabs today instead of regular fishing. I had never been crabbing before so that day was going to be the first time for us both. We went to the hunting supply store to get equipment and the store clerk highly recommended the bay in East Rockaway at Bay Park. We packed our stuff for the day and went to, ironiclly, the same side of the park that my future wife and step son were going to be at. Joanne saw Gabriel on the sidewalk first and said hello to him as I was taking all of our gear out of the trunk. We smiled at each other and said hello as well, and then kept going with our day. Maybe we were both thinking the same thing as they walked away but I thought to myself “I have to talk to this girl, she’s so hot...but she’s probably married.” Thankfully we got the chance. We saw them again and Gabriel wanted to show her what we had already caught. I thought to myself- what a perfect opportunity to talk to this beautiful woman that’s being so nice to my son. We started talking about different things like our children, our summer experiences so far, and the really cool sprinkler park just on the other side from where we were. I noticed our kids were intrigued with one another as well and we seemed to want to keep talking to each other after the initial friendly hello and small talk. So, I finally worked up the courage to ask her if we could see each other again, you know for the kids, and let them play in the sprinklers. That gave me an opportunity at the same time to see if she was single, and I was relieved to hear that she was! We exchanged numbers and everyday since then, we’ve always wanted nothing more than to spend time together.

We had been counting down the days until we were going to leave for our first family cruise vacation! Little did I know that it would be a momentous memory in our love story. Andy had been secretly planning for this moment for months with family and friends. He made sure to tell everyone not to ruin his perfectly planned surprise so that it could be carried out without a hitch. However, Gabriel’s little ears were listening all along to his dad’s plans. One day, he eagerly told me (with a huge smile on his face) “my dad is going to “ropose” to you!” I froze. I was stunned and shocked. I asked him, “Gabriel, do you know what that means?” He replied, “It means he’s going to marry you!” Curiously I asked him “When?” and he told me, “On the cruise!” I couldn’t believe it! I wasn’t able to hold this news in and I told Andy that Gabriel had let the cat out of the bag! He seemed disappointed and said that he now had to switch up everything that he’d been planning. So, six months later when it was cruise time, I didnt think his plan would still be in effect. The magic happened at the beach on the island of St. Martin. Andy and Gabriel were snorkeling and looking for “treasure.” Kian and I were closer to the shore as Kian was floating in his boat tube. From a distance I heard Andy shout, “Babe! Come here, we found something for you!” So, I swam over while pushing Kian in his boat. In Andy’s hand was a closed seashell. It looked so unique because it had gold trim along the edges. He carefully opened it and inside was an engagement ring that was securely tied to a string. I was taken by such surprise and asked, “What is that?!” “Is this for real?!” He looked at me and asked me the most beautiful four word question, “Will you marry me?” I immediately said “YES” and we hugged, kissed and brought in both boys to share in our joy! It was such a magical moment that we’d remember forever! Andy was even wearing his GoPro so it was also captured on video!