A surprise engagement does not mean that you do not know about it. And that's what Mario managed to do on August 19, 2019! Let me elaborate. My week started back in NYC on Monday after just getting back from a vacation in Virginia Beach with Mario where he impressed me with his surfing skills: https://tinyurl.com/y3eppevx. We had planned this trip in advance of my relocation to NYC earlier in the year as something to look forward to despite knowing we were opting for a long-distance relationship. However, I was nearly certain (as were our friends) that he would end up proposing on this trip - especially after putting me through torture on an elevated ropes course ust outside of VA Beach (me telling him to turn off the camera and help me while he reveled in my misery: https://tinyurl.com/y4hw2sn6). When we ended the vacation still as boyfriend and girlfriend, I put the idea of an engagement in the near future to rest - mainly because we still did not, as of then, have a timeline of when we would be living in the same city. Now, my office in New York is an open concept floorplan with about 50 employees, most of whom are women, so we often receive deliveries for all types of things. On the Monday of the engagement week, a large vase of roses walked through the door. Well, that's what it looked like until I saw the delivery man being hidden by it. I thought that someone had maybe sent a rose bush for planting, but needless to say, he dropped the 6 dozen roses on my desk with a card that said "It's time to get a manicure. I love you. -MSC". Connecting the dots was not hard. I knew Mario had been planning to visit me that weekend in New York (as he was still finishing his residency in Nashville and we had been traveling back and forth since May), but I immediately thought he may be coming sooner. After the ropes course, I had already booked both a manicure and facial for that Wednesday so I just hoped he wasn't going to pop up prior to the nail appointment.

The next day in the office, I was pretty unassuming and more concerned with how I was going to transport the flowers home on the subway during rush hour than with anything else. I had just gone down to get my routine afternoon coffee, and I was coming back up, had a text from a co-worker that another delivery man showed up asking for me - this time with four large pizzas from a local NY style pizza place that Mario knew I loved. The receipt read "Just so the rest of the office doesn't get jealous. I love you -MSC". Needless to say, he won over the hearts of many that day.

By the time Wednesday rolled around, I was expecting a delivery man to show up (hopefully with a whole pack of rent a puppy for the office to play with for the entire morning). The day dragged on, lunch passed, and by 5 pm I was out the door for my nail appointment and facial. I'm not sure who was more disappointed - my coworkers or me - but regardless, I was looking forward to some self-care time. Joe, my beloved nail technician, convinced me that I needed a pedicure too (it really didn't take much convincing) and after about an hour of chatting about my week, he said "voila". I started to reach for my card to pay and he said "no, no, no, Mario says he loves you". I was shocked. I didn't know Mario even knew where I got my nails done. I hurried out the door towards downtown to make it to my facial in time, all while grinning and texting him pictures of my new nails and thank yous. It was a similar story as I said farewell to the esthetician after my facial who proceeded to tell me - "this one has been taken care of already, you're a pretty lucky woman."

On Thursday, I was so giddy to tell my co-workers about Wednesday night that my morning ended up flying by. Around two, I got a text from Mario making sure I had my ID on me. I thought that was strange but I told him I did... 15 minutes later, a delivery man showed up at my office. He asked for my license, made me sign a waiver (at which point I was a bit nervous), and reconfirmed verbally my age. He handed me two large bags and was gone before I could even ask him what it was. To my pleasant surprise, there was 10 containers of ice cream / sorbet in assorted flavors as well as ice cream sandwiches. The catch - it was from Tipsy Scoop - an ice creamery in NYC known for their alcohol-infused ice cream treats. The office was thrilled. By 4pm on a Thursday, everyone was ready for a pick me up and the ice cream was devoured within minutes.

Friday was the day Mario was flying into New York. Given the subtle hints of the week, I had an idea of what would be coming but wasn't quite sure how he was going to pull it off. After meeting at my apartment and changing outfits, we hopped in a cab and headed over to Central Park. A15 minute walk into the park led us to a bench on the waterfront that Mario stopped us at to tell me he had called my Dad after our Virginia Beach trip. He proceeded to tell me that ever since our second date, he knew his bachelor days were over. He walked us over to the waterfront, got down on one knee, and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. To say it was a perfect moment would be an understatement. And what was even better is the man that had been sitting on the bench prior to us was actually a photographer that Mario had hired to capture the moment and shoot our engagement session immediately following!