We’re engaged!

Our story began in 2012. I had just transferred to the same Apple location as Leif. He had been working there as a technician for a few years in New York City. We both immediately noticed the other and I found myself locking eyes with him regularly. There was an immediate attraction between us. He introduced himself, “Hi, I’m Leif”, “sounds like safe”. I loved his unique name and his blue eyes! Over that summer we began spending time together in and outside of work. We never grew tired of each other’s company. I knew I had met an incredibly kind person like no one I had ever met before. On October 22nd, there was a huge storm, Hurricane Sandy had hit the Tri State area. We were both without power and I became very worried he might have been hurt in the storm. I was finally able to reach him through his best friend Liam in a messaging app once some power had restored. He let me know that Leif was fine but without power. During the outage, Leif had drawn a picture of me at candlelight. I knew he was in love with me as much as I was in love with him. I then began to realize he may be the love of my life. Over the years our love continued to grow. Through the encouragement of my late grandma, Jane, I continued to spend time with Leif. I introduced him to her in a fateful visit that would turn out to be her last one to New Jersey. She loved him and gave me immediate approval. She kept encouraging me to love and trust him and forget my past relationships. Through her guidance I was able to close the chapters on my previous relationships and give Leif my heart. My dearest friends also gave us their blessings and spent time with us as our relationship continued to bloom. A lifetime of love became apparent to us both in 2019. We had been coparenting my son Ethan and Leif had completely assumed the role of Dad. To this day his unconditional love to Ethan is an incredible blessing to our family and a testimony of love only God could bestow upon us. Their relationship has grown leaps and bounds and their bond unbreakable. We realized we were a family and it was time to take the next steps of commitment.

Christmas has always been our favorite time of year. Christmas Eve 2020 was such a blessing as we hadn’t seen many of our family members much that year with the pandemic. The festivities remained the same just like any other year filled with a trip to Life Church for the Christmas Eve service followed by our family party. We headed home from my brother Brian’s annual Christmas Eve Party and tucked Ethan into bed to dream of Santa’s Visit. Leif and I always exchange our gifts on Christmas Eve to enjoy the time together and to focus on Ethan for Christmas morning. This Christmas Eve would be different and special in a way I could never expect! He presented all of my gifts and I excitedly opened each one. The last gift was a very special Christmas Tree ornament chime that I had received from my late Grandmother, Jane Walsh. I had not hung it up in years as one of the bells made of delicate glass had broken. As I started to open the gift, I realized what it was and to my delight, that he had fixed it. I burst into tears! He then asked me to put the ornament on the tree. While I was placing it on the tree, he got down on one knee. I turned around and he asked me to marry him… I of course said, YES!