Beckie and Chris met the way most modern couples these days meet, on a very romantic dating app called Plenty of Fish. At the time, Beckie was an avid runner, and her favorite place to get her miles in was the Central Park Loop. This small detail was mentioned under her ‘interests’ section of the glorious matchmaking app. Out of all things, this little detail, not her profile picture or fancy job as an artist assistant for a famous artist, was what caught Chris’s attention. Central Park is, to this day, Chris’s favorite place on earth. In a leap of faith, he sent that dreaded first message, suggesting a day date, a walk in the park of course, to show off his favorite nooks and crannies of his favorite corner of the world. A casual day date, nothing too serious, no dinner commitment or awkward coffee encounters, Beckie agreed enthusiastically. She DID enjoy Chris’s profile picture: I’m not sure she looked at much else. The nervous pair decided to meet on a street corner, and to each other’s surprise and delight, upon approaching one another, noticed the other was ALSO wearing blue jeans, a plain gray tee shirt, and sandals. It was, literally, a “match” made in heaven. The first stop on Chris’s tour was Strawberry Fields, a small memorial to John Lennon of The Beatles. Just steps away from the home he shared with Yoko, at the entrance to the park, surrounded by a lush garden, there is a stunning floor mosaic that says IMAGINE. People come from far and wide to lay flowers on this mosaic, and there is always some long haired gentleman strumming a guitar and singing Beatles cover songs.

Just a short distance away is “the rock”. This is a sacred space for Chris, one he had never before or since shared with another soul. It is a large boulder where people climb up to get the most epic view of the main pond. This is where Chris would come to be alone with his thoughts to watch the world go by, to smile at the happy couples paddling along in wooden row boats. Beckie and Chris sat on this rock together on their first date, discussed the things they had in common, a mutual love of The Beatles, the fact that we were both only children growing up, and how they were both looking for the real thing, true love that is. Five years later, after one of Beckie’s volunteer shifts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Chris asked Beckie on yet another walk around the park, suggesting perhaps a visit to what was now “our rock”. This is where he asked to take a photo of Beckie looking at the water, and when she turned around, there he was, down on one knee, presenting her with a sapphire engagement ring he designed himself, asking her to be his wife. As we all know, she said yes! On the way out of the park, ring on her finger, they returned to Strawberry Fields, to take a photo in front of the mosaic that dared them on that first date to IMAGINE something greater than themselves, a love worth living for.