We're Getting Married!

Where else does one go the night of a blizzard in NY? To the local bar with some girlfriends of course! It was January 22, 2016 and before walking in, my friend Geena turns to me and says, "There's a really cute bartender that works here." Not thinking much of it, we go inside and go to the bar to order some drinks. A handsome bald bartender with a beard made our drinks and throughout the night, bought back a couple rounds, and would exchange flirty looks with me. Towards the end of the night, he came out from behind the bar and approached me. We started talking and he asked how old I was. Knowing he was obviously older, I nervously lied and said, "I'm 23." He somehow immediately knew I was lying and said, "No you're not, are you even old enough to be in here?!" I nervously laughed and said, "Oh god, yes I am, I'm 21." We chatted some more, exchanged numbers, and found out we lived two blocks away from each other. He went back behind the bar and the night was winding down. It was time for me to leave but before I left, I said to myself that I have to say bye to this cute bartender. To see if he was really into me, I leaned over the bar and said I'm leaving, are you going to give me a kiss goodnight? He leaned over the bar and gave me a kiss. For some reason, I didn't believe it was for real, so I said, "Are you gunna do it again?" And he did it a second time, in front of everyone at the bar! An hour later, I'm home and get a message from Donald saying, "I'm on my way home driving down our block. This could be us right now" and sends a picture of a snowman. I replied, "You never asked." He said, "I'll walk over to you right now. It'd be a good story to tell the grandkids." Without hesitation, he sends a picture of his shadow walking up 98th street towards my house. We spent over an hour outside on the corner in the blizzarding snow. Fast forward about 8 years later - turns out that it actually is a good story we get to tell the grandkids !!! ♡

It was a cold, winter night on a Friday in January. Snow was in the forecast, but how much, no one knew. Now I normally had off from CJ’s Bar and Grill on Fridays, however someone had asked me to cover their shift and being a single man always looking to make a quick dollar, I said yes, not knowing my life would change in the best possible way that night. The regular crowd had shuffled in and the snow had started to fall, and I knew I was in to make a lot of money that night. But what I didn’t know, was that a pretty little woman with short hair wearing a denim jacket would be coming in to hang out with her friends for the night. As soon as I saw her, I locked eyes and smiled. I made sure to be free every time she needed a drink (Ciroc Peach and club). Then I started calling her over every time my coworker and I would do shots with other customers and include her (Jameson, on the house of course 😂). Throughout this, I had learned the pretty short-haired girl was named Jessica and only lived 3 blocks from where I lived, and that she thought I was cute! 😳 Now during this entire time, the snow kept falling. We got about 26” by the time the night had ended. So it was time for her to leave and we had exchanged numbers at this point, but little Miss Jessica here was a bold one. She looked me in the eyes and asked me “if I leaned over the bar and kissed you right now, would you kiss me back?” Now I was raised to be a respectful gentleman and did what anyone else would do in that situation….and I puckered up!! I guess she didn’t believe I did it, so she asked again and sure enough, we locked lips one more time. She had gone home and I had closed up the bar with a smitten smile branded on my face. We had texted to make sure each other got home safely, but even though it was like 5am at this point, I was wide awake. So little Miss Jessica was about to find out that I was a bold one too. I suggested we build a snowman together but she had doubted that I could be serious. I knew this would be a great story to tell our grandkids one day, so I strapped on some boots and started high kneeing my way to her in the 2 feet of snow. She met me on the corner, and we laughed until our belly’s hurt and made out as the snowflakes fell on top of us like we were in a movie. We never did build that snowman, but we did start building a foundation for a lifetime of happiness. And that is the story of how I met my bride to be. ❤️