We're getting married!

Brody and I go all the way back to grade three when I moved to the area. Throughout public school, we were always good friends. On June 18, 2010, he was my first kiss and asked me to be his girlfriend. Later on, we learnt that we were going to different high schools and didn’t think we could handle the distance at such a young age, so we broke up. In grade nine, I transferred buses at his school to get home. I would run into him every so often for a few seconds and when I did, it was the best part of my day. Fast forward to grade ten when I got on the bus for my first day and all I saw was his smiling face at the back of the bus. We quickly learnt that my bus transfer at his school would take about 45 minutes to get home. We spent that time walking around the halls of the school, talking about our day, our dreams and everything else but our feelings for each other. I was scared. I didn’t want to lose him as a friend. He asked me out a few times, and I always said no. At one point he told me he loved me, and that was that. Everything just felt right. I made the decision to go to the dance at his school with my friends from soccer. He found out I was going and bought a ticket on the morning of. We talked a majority of the night, but a girl kept texting him. He said he couldn’t get her to leave him alone, and I literally blurted out, “Just tell her you have a girlfriend.” He didn’t say anything but, “Really?” That’s the moment I made him pinky promise to never break my heart. March 1, 2013. After that, the bus route changed and we were both very busy. We saw each other maybe once a week. We made it work, however, things got difficult when I went to university two hours away and he was six hours in Cornwall. The long-distance was heartbreaking, yet we’re happy that we could grow up on our own alongside each other. On September 1, 2019, after 6.5 years of distance, we moved into our first place, and couldn’t be happier and more ready to take on the world together.

We never did our big post-graduation trip as planned so we decided to take a couple of days and go to New York City. I had a spreadsheet itinerary and the passports were packed. We were good to go! Little did I know that about a week before when I was out, Brody went over to my parent’s place to receive their blessing (cue the tears). On our first morning, we walked to Times Square and continued to Central Park to find the Bethesda Terrace Fountain. Fortunately, it was a beautiful fall day. The leaves were falling perfectly, there was music playing and horse and carriages were going by. It was truly something out of a movie, so of course, I stopped to take lots of pictures. Brody, however, kept checking his phone for directions, which made me upset because he wasn’t taking it all in. Little did I know that he was talking to our photographer and letting her know that we were going to be late because I was taking my sweet time. Finally, we arrived at the Fountain and I was super disappointed because they were cleaning it. Brody kept walking though, so I followed him to the river area. There he asked me if I wanted to take a picture… That’s when I saw his hands shaking and he turned towards me. He said something like, “I know you wanted to wait six months and it’s early, but I want to spend forever with you…*insert my full name.*” At this point, I am literally saying, “What are you doing,” and laughing. I am pretty sure I blacked out. He then asked me if I would marry him and I apparently said “Yes,” multiple times and wouldn’t stop nodding. After he stood up I started crying because I finally realized what had just happened. We were engaged! After that, we had an hour shoot with our photographer in Central Park and then we spent the day around the city as planned. I am glad he did it on our first day because we were then able to enjoy a little engagement-moon for the rest of the weekend. NYC will be a place that is forever dear to our hearts.