L.O.V.E
So how do you propose to the woman of your dreams? Never in my life had I ever contemplated such a thing. Never looked at an engagement ring, visited a venue, or picked out a tux. This was all uncharted territory. To make it ever more fun, she has an extremely tight schedule and planning of anything would be tough. I kicked a bunch of ideas around in my head but nothing concrete came to mind.
Bounced some ideas off my sisters and close friends. Everyone was very happy to hear the news as Kerry and I had been together for years and all my family and friends love her. One close friend of ours was pregnant and we played around with the idea of saying she was having a baby shower downtown in Philadelphia to get her to a known location at a certain time. The logistics of getting everyone to a location on time in the city and hidden in a way that wouldn’t tip her off wasn’t going to cut it unfortunately. Part of that possibly involved getting a horse and buggy ride and popping the question then before the restaurant. Getting good pictures and the cold weather of January made that idea short lived as well. The only other idea that came up was to try and get her to the Philadelphia car show and surprise her there. Again, getting everyone to the venue in time and having an agreed upon location would have been very challenging. Another idea dead in the dirt.
In some previous brainstorms, the idea came up of proposing at the house. Initially I wasn’t over enthusiastic about the idea, but as I thought and talked through it, it didn’t seem like a bad idea. Timing was of the essence as Kerry’s schedule is extremely tight and weekends off are few and far in-between. As time passed, she just so happened to have a Saturday off on January 26th, 2019. I started calling friends and family to get their feelings on the idea. Everyone was in agreement and I started moving forward with the plans. The biggest obstacle for the day would be how to get her out the house; more on that later.
Initially I thought to get a caterer for the event so everyone could stay relaxed and not have to stress over anything. After a call with my stepmother, she quickly offered the idea of everyone chipping in with a dish to supply the food for the party. At first, I was a little hesitant, but after realizing how many people would be there that cook, it started making more and more sense. A small text message started circulating with all the dishes that would be made for the event. Didn’t take long before that turned into a very long list of food. I was shocked how fast it filled up. It gave me a good feeling to know that so many people were willing to help.
My mother and aunts said they would take care of the cake as they know the bakery that Kerry and I love. One less thing to worry about as picking that up would have been challenging for sure. My sister Lisa and I plotted on the ring. I had spent weeks looking online and watching Youtube videos getting my diamond knowledge up to par. Not being much of a diamond person myself, I was absolutely clueless. I told Kerry that Lisa and I would be working out at the gym together one Saturday. We’d never done it before but since she’s my sister, it didn’t seem that strange. Our plan worked as we headed down to Jewelers Row in Philly as soon as we finished our workout. After a couple hours of grilling diamonds, I found the one. I knew from a cruise that we took the year before that she wanted a simple, elegant ring. That made my life much easier in the long run as I didn’t have to guess what kind of ring she wanted.
As the date got closer, Kerry mentioned that the sister of a very good friend of hers was having a birthday party on the same day up on New Jersey. This sent a chill down my spine as the day-of logistics just got that much harder as I didn’t know how I would be able to get her to leave the party by a certain time. That got compounded even more when the day before a friend of hers asked if she could ride to New Jersey with us. At that point I was turning white, I had absolutely no idea how I would be able to get not one, but two people, back to Philly in time to be able to coordinate the proposal at my house.
I quickly sent a text out to her friend and let her know that I was in a pinch. Thankfully they were able to re-arrange return travel plans. One more obstacle out of the way. I still had the task of getting Kerry out of the party in time to be back at my house by 7pm that evening. Knowing there would be music and food, this was going to be a hard task. I’d spent weeks on the phone with everyone getting everything lined up…decorations, plans, directions, along with strict instructions to keep their mouth shut; but I still had to figure that piece out.
That Saturday morning after we left out, I text my sister that we were leaving. I’d spent the week cleaning the house more than usual. Kerry was somewhat suspicious, but she knows that I like to keep things in order, so it wasn’t really too unusual. When we arrived at the party, all I was thinking about the entire time was, how am I going to get Kerry out of here! All her friends were in on the event happening later so I knew I had backup. I made up a story that I was having a headache and wasn’t feeling too good. One of her friends skillfully picked up on that and said, “Hey Mike, you aren’t looking too good. Are you okay?”. That caught Kerry’s attention as she wasn’t expecting to hear something like that from someone else. It was my saving grace as she was now okay with us leaving a little early.
Her friends all escorted us out as they knew what was going to happen next. I had the ring in my car, plan in my head, and hoped that everything would go smoothly. I sent my sister Sasha and Kerry’s cousin, Tara, a text when I was leaving to let them know that we were on our way. The plan was set in motion, all I had to do was get her home. I wasn’t nervous on the ride back, rather more anxious. After all the years that we’d spent together, vacations we’d taken, and time spent together, I knew this was the one person that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I was also fairly certain that she felt the same way.
Once we got close to the house, I told Kerry that I really needed to get to the bathroom, and that we could not stop at the supermarket before going home. After a long ride it didn’t come across as a strange request. The signal to my sister to let her know we were 5 minutes away was to call her and as if my nephew was awake and could we stop by. The conversation was very normal as we always call to check if he’s up and pay a visit. At this point I started feel a little nervous as the moment was just about here. As we pulled up to the house, I didn’t see any cars out front. This was a good sign as the instructions given was for everyone to park down the block so she wouldn’t be tipped off seeing familiar cars. People drove from all over USA for this and I was happy that no one messed up.
When the car stopped in the driveway, I pressed the garage door opener as I’d done for years to open the garage door. The ring was on the driver’s side of the car and I had already slipped it into my coat pocket. I spent countless hours looking for the right box with a light as I knew the nighttime darkness would make it hard to see the ring. To my shock and surprise, the garage door was not opening. In my head I knew that someone had mistakenly hit the switch in the garage cutting power to the door. I was white as a ghost on the inside and my throat immediately got dry as I knew I couldn’t go in the front door as our parents and my stepparents were all inside the garage with balloons that say “Will you marry me?”, and the house was full of people waiting to surprise her…so the front door was out of the question. After seeing me struggle and in some way more panic than she ever could have known, she offered to go to her car and see if it was just something wrong with my car.
As soon as she stepped out, I called my sister on the phone and told her to get that switch in the garage so the power would come back. She flew down the steps in the pitch black with who knows how many people in the way and got to the switch in the nick of time. Kerry heard the garage opening and started walking up the driveway. As it rose, she noticed the feet inside and was shocked as that was not normal. At the same time, I came around the car and pulled the ring out of my pocket. Everyone stood there silent as she read the balloons and put it all together. Her very good friend, JJ, was around the corner of the house with a camera to catch the moment, and her sister Devahna was in the garage recording everything with her phone. The question was asked….she paused, walked over to me and stood for a few. To my delight she said “yes!”. Everyone in the garage yelled and congratulated us. What she didn’t know was that there was still another surprise in store.
We all made sure to let her be the first person that walked in the house after she greeted everyone. The house was dark as she walked through the door and I waited for her to take a few steps and flicked the switch. Everyone in the house yelled “Surprise!!!” and she was in complete and total shock. The tears began to run, and I knew that she was caught completely off guard. I was so happy that no one told her. My biggest fear was that she would get tipped off…nope. Everyone did a great job of keeping the secret and I was so appreciative. The night was amazing as we toasted, took pictures and videos, opened gifts, cut cake, and celebrated with everyone. It all came together better then I ever could have imagined.
What Kerry knew…
He got me! Yes, really good too. See, I was in a vulnerable place with many thoughts and plans about my future running through my mind…board exam to plan for, upcoming carnival trip to Trinidad, paperwork to fill out for licensing for the new job, grocery shopping, apartment shopping, working out, packing, Shola’s party, etc. This list was never-ending and I wanted to get this all done in 36 hours before heading back to work on Monday. Furthermore, I had just taken an important in-service exam for residency and I was just overwhelmed that I had not seen Mikey for almost four weeks.
Shola, my friend’s sister, had a birthday party in New Jersey, earlier the same day of our engagement. While we were at her party, Mike was acting quite strange. He looked sick, his countenance was depressed, his energy seemed low, all of which he attributed to a headache. He wanted to leave the party early, which if you know me, I LOVE a good party and hate leaving early, especially if I haven’t touched the dance floor. I was really sad at the thought of leaving early, but I cared more about the fact that this headache was preventing him from having a good time. I didn’t want to enjoy the party at his expense so I agreed to leaving early.
On our way back, I suggested that we stop at the grocery store. It would have been convenient to get groceries at that time to prevent us from having to leave the house again in the blistering cold. Not only that, I would also have time to cook considering that we would be getting back sooner than I had originally thought. So, that did not happen. Why? Because Mike insisted that he had to go to the house to “poop” and said he couldn’t hold it long enough for us to get groceries.
Now I’m thinking he has a bad headache and needs to poop. I couldn’t fight with that because sometimes when you have to go, you just have to go. So, we proceed to head to the house and I went back into my thoughts about all the things I had to do.
The best day of my life!
Little did I know that history was about to be made and a new chapter of our lives was about to begin. In sequence, this is what I remember:
We pulled up to the garage, Mike tried to open the garage door but, it wouldn’t open.
He became very flustered. I mean really flustered in a way I had never seen before.
I said, “Babe, if it’s not working, we can just head over to Sasha’s for the extra house key!”. But that response did not suffice.
I then thought, well maybe his garage opener battery is low so let me check the garage door opener in my car. I got to my car and grabbed the garage door opener. I pressed and kept pressing the button while looking at the garage door…it was simply not moving.
I came out of my car thinking we will just have to drive over to Sasha’s.
Then the garage door started to lift up like magic and I saw feet, lots of feet followed by images of people in the garage.
I got scared. Really scared. Why are there people in the garage?????
I was about to run for my life y’all until the images started to look familiar. Really familiar… like my mom, my sister, my soon to be mother-in-law, my… wait, huh?!. Confusion. I was just with my mom and sister yesterday in New York. I was pretty sure my location was Philadelphia at the moment. Why are they here? Why are they in Mike’s garage? Why is DJ (who was supposed to also be ‘sick’) holding a balloon that read…pause…Will you marry me?!
I now knew what was happening and I couldn’t believe it. The butterflies, the tears, the joy, the profound happiness all intertwined and then I saw my love on bended knees. Let’s just say I could not hold back.
After I said yes (I’m pretty sure I did not hear the question or words or any sounds as a matter-of-fact) and hugged and greeted everyone, they led me into the house for what I thought was for the 12 of us to celebrate together. Then my heart almost stopped as I entered the house and saw, felt, heard the depth of surprise that Mike had planned. I never knew this level of happiness existed. The house was filled with our friends and family for a spectacular surprise engagement celebration. I lost it again as the joy overflowed my soul. I was on cloud nine and couldn’t be happier. I was loved and in love!