08.22.2021

In 2018, as I was working at Cathedral, I was introduced to Randi by my sister Angie, who had always said "You need to meet Randi. I've been putting in a good word for you." During that year's Easter staff party, Angie paired Randi and I up for a game of dominos. It was amazing. Even though I was teaching her the basics, little did she know that would be the beginning of her training to be my dominos partner for life. 😉 In September, I invited Randi to join me and some of the other staff at our regular Happy Hour after work, but she told me she couldn't go because she had a Dungeons & Dragons session that night. That was all it took for me to blow up her phone with hundreds of D&D memes immediately, but little did I know it was actually only her second time playing.😳🤓 After that, we rain checked happy hour when Randi invited me to a comedy show after work because I had mentioned my interest in pursuing stand-up. It was just the two of us, but she made sure I knew it was not a date. When the last school bell rang, she let me know we could just walk there from school. I did not know at the time that a 'short walk' for Randi meant Midtown to south of Washington Square Park. 🥵🥵 From that day forward, we continued to go for 'short walks' together every day after work. During one of our walks in December, we went to Southern Hospitality BBQ by Port Authority. We usually stopped by for drinks and food during our walks so we could stretch our time together as long as possible before I had to get my bus home. This time, however, I asked her to be my girlfriend officially. 🤩🤩 We would continue our walks, our dinners, our dominos, and TWO D&D groups, eventually moving in together in February 2021. I couldn't be any happier, and I'm glad my sister has good taste. ❤❤

I knew I wanted to marry Randi back in 2019 when she took me to see Joker for my birthday at the iPic theater, which is a movie I was talking about nonstop at the time. After the movie, we went on one of our famous 'short walks' to Fishmarket Restaurant, a dive bar she used to frequent when she worked at South Street Seaport. We had been enjoying our time together when she jokingly said "If you asked me to marry you right now, I'd say yes." At that moment, I thought we were officially engaged. 🥰🥰 Little did I know we were not engaged, so on May 1, 2021 I planned a date for her birthday which would also be the date when I proposed. We started the date by going to the New Museum in Bowery. I told her we had 4 PM lunch plans, and at 4 PM exactly we were just getting our food - her favorite, crab legs. (Randi has always wanted me to plan something to amazing detail and was shocked).🤯🦀 She was soooooo happy. I am not much of a seafood enthusiast, and her having to teach me how to crack and eat crab put the biggest smile on her face. Little did she know, this was just the beginning. Later that evening, I had reservations at Sea Fire Grill in Midtown. It was a VERY romantic spot - candlelit dark ambiance, five star ratings, and very intimate. Randi had told me, to my surprise, that she had never been to a restaurant like this. Randi lives on the Food Network and is always telling me how she wants to try all of these restaurants, and try specific chef's foods. It brought me so much joy to have been the one to give her this experience. 🍒🍒 Although a ring had been chosen for this wonderful occasion, I did NOT have it at this moment. That did not take away from our wonderful date. On our way home from the restaurant, I asked her to marry me while apologizing for not having the ring at the most perfect setting in the restaurant. She just laughed, thanked me for the amazing day, and reminded me that we had been engaged ever since the night at Fishmarket Restaurant. 🎉😍