WE FINALLY GOT IT RIGHT!

A: We met on Christian Mingle, JK. Our grammar schools had yearly spelling bees. We never made it far which meant more time to awkwardly socialize like preteens do. At this spelling bee, I fell for NOT Marc, but his best friend Carlos. One fateful day, Carlos invited me to a school dance where he introduced me to Marc. I didn't know it then but I just met "the One." We were about 10 yrs old. M: I have no recollection of meeting Armelle at the spelling bee, but she swears she first caught a glimpse of me there. (Could you blame her?). I was formally introduced to Armelle in the Fall of 1999 by Carlos. I was jealous, but what could have I done? Luckily for me after that dance, our friends started hanging out with each other. A: We started hanging out alone. Marc and I rode the bus to Newport Mall to share Mrs. Field's cheesecake brownies. We listened to Power After Hours while talking on the phone. We were distracted by the start of highschool that we didn’t pursue each other. We grew up and dated other people but every time I would see Marc my heart fluttered. I took longer to get dressed if I knew he'd be there. M: We went on friend dates. I respected the space between us because Armelle always intimidated the heck out of me. Jk. Fall of 2011 opportunity finally knocked--we were both finally single at the same time. A: I tried to see him more. I told him I had a headache. He volunteered to bring me Tylenol so I threw away the bottle I already had. Another time I told him I was baking cookies. He said he'd love some, so I ran over to the grocery for ingredients. M: I felt like I waited years to get this opportunity but it still took months to make a move. I felt like she was out of my league and it took 100 pep talks from my closest friends to finally do it. It was not until January 8th, 2012 when I asked Armelle to be my girlfriend. Fast forward 6 years, I’ve asked her to be my wife. We're stupidly in love, want babies, and ready to spend forever together.

It's difficult to pinpoint when I knew I wanted to marry Armelle. I found myself sitting over a bowl of cereal tearing up thinking how lucky I am that there's a woman upstairs sleeping in a bed I'm about to sleep in who cares more about my livelihood than herself, the answer couldn't have been more obvious. It was silly for me to think proposing was going to be a breeze, as if I just didn't spend 6 months looking for a ring. I picked Harvest on Hudson in Hastings, New York on 6/30/18, the day after my 31st birthday. The restaurant staff helped coordinate the timing and arrangements. I called Bernardo, my photographer friend, to take pictures of the proposal. Our families knew and kept it a secret from Armelle. Easy peasey lemon squeezey. "Man plans, and God laughs." To begin the night, I had the bright idea of carpooling with my family to our 7:30PM reservation to the restaurant where she thought we were having my birthday dinner. I told Armelle's family to meet us there early, but to hide in the bushes since their presence was a surprise. Bernardo was also there early to set up. At 7:15PM, we were at a gas station in Secaucus, NJ when Monica saw actual smoke fumes coming out of my ears because my parents decided to fill up their tank before dinner. Somehow, I cooled down and we arrived at 8PM. I was relieved, but didn't realize I just told my future-in laws to hide behind bushes for over half an hour in 90 degree weather. I was cool as a cucumber, thinking I would smoothly pop the question. I didn't expect for my heart to beat out my chest, tears to fill up my eyes, and uncontrollably shake. I have never been more nervous in my life. As I got down on one knee, all I remember was fumbling my words and there was ringing in my ears then, Thank God, I heard Armelle say yes. ____ Hello! Armelle here. Of course he would forget to mention that before I said yes I asked him if he would clean more! When he said yes, I said yes. Don't forget the Cleaning Clause, ladies.