Ms. Bellemare's 10th grade cooking class - where it all started. Originally, I was going to drop the class. I had planned to do it the next day, but my typical, lazy 15 year old self kept putting it off and then eventually it was too late. I got placed into a group with Anthony and a couple other people, but I was instantly drawn to Anthony. He was the silly, funny, outgoing one, and most importantly - the sweetest one. Soon enough, we were inseparable. We were constantly talking and working together and eventually, we baked a cookie that ended up being in the shape of a heart - OBVIOUSLY a sign that we were meant to be together forever (ha)
During my sophomore year in high school I decided to take a home economics class which entailed mostly cooking food. I was excited because I had three of my good friends Brandon, Mike and Kyle in the class. The first day of class was pretty typical of any new start to a class elective, such as going over the syllabus and logistics of the class. Ms. Bellemare was a lively but stern teacher who enjoyed teaching kids how to create some of the most basic dishes. Ms. Bellemare proceeded to group us into teams and assigned us to certain kitchen stations that would last the duration of the class year. I was pumped to get grouped with Mike, Brandon, Kyle and Adriana…… As the year progressed, we created all different types of dishes like brownies, cupcakes, huevos ranchero and many more. Our group was legit , we joked around and had a blast. Adriana was the only girl in our group, so we never hesitated to make her feel like she was part of our clan. We all grew closer as friends as time went by, and I started to realize how laid back and outgoing Adriana was. I remember telling Kyle “I'm about to ask Adriana out for real though”. Kyle was like “Yo, you should go for it man”. Eventually we all had exchanged AIM accounts, and started chatting online. I found myself hitting up Adriana more often and we would joke around and chat for hours. I knew Valentines Day was coming up soon so I thought I would show her some love. I handed her a hershey kiss tin with chocolates and said "will you be my valentine?"
Like I previously mentioned, Anthony and I talked everyday. We talked in class. We talked on the way to my bus after school. We talked on AIM when we got home from school. We talked late at night on the phone when we were supposed to be asleep. Finally, March 22, 2008 - Anthony asked me out the only way a 15 year old boy knew how to ask a girl out - via AIM.
Fast forward 10+ years. We've been through it all. Breakups, makeups, graduating high school, starting and graduating college, vacations, road trips, moving in together, sick family members, leaving jobs, starting new jobs - you name it, we've been through it. Honestly, it was almost as if we were already married. BUT, of course there was that moment that every girl dreams of - the proposal. Anthony had gifted me a trip to Canada for my birthday for the second week in December. I didn't think much of it because we're really into giving each other "experience" gifts, rather than ""thing" gifts. So we left for Canada with my only clue being that we were going to a "nice dinner" that Friday night when we got there (which was also pretty typical for us). We got to Canada and went about a normal day. Did some touristy things and just kind of hung out before dinner. When we got to dinner, he was acting a little weird. He kept getting up to go to the bathroom, but I honestly didn't think too much of it. We were in a restaurant with a view of Niagara Falls and they have fireworks every Friday night. The fireworks started going off and Anthony suggested we get a picture in front of the window with the fireworks behind us. That's when he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! It was perfect and beautiful and I wouldn't have had it any other way.