HOW WE MET

We met in this very fancy Starbucks in the Meat Packing District in NY. Yes, Starbucks. He was in the city to meet a customer. I was was on a solitary vacation; I decided that I was going to spend the day alone and treat myself well. I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I then walked nearly sixty blocks, stopping at a bookstore along the way, and then afterwards I walked down to the nearest coffeeshop and the first one I cam across was Starbucks. It is not an ordinary Starbucks, very elaborate, brewery, cocktail bar, nice and comfortable.

I planned to sit and read and then go to a movie. As it happened, Mike was sitting at the table next to me, and he was reading the same book, The Goldfinch. I saw him watching me and he definitely gave me the once-over. He says he didn't, but he did. I caught him in the act. In order to save himself, he held up the book to show me and smiled and said, "I was looking at the book," It was funny, because I remember firstly being offended that he was obviously checking me out, and then I was offended that he might not have been... LOL. Now I know him better, I am certain. He is just very quick witted in that way. We talked briefly, from opposite tables, about books and such, and then after about ten minutes we were sitting together. I don't think either of us planned on staying so long, but neither of us really wanted to leave. It's one of those moments you are trying to hang onto, but you don't want the other to know you want to drag it out. And as long as they are doing the same, it works. Somehow we drifted into the conversation about Seinfeld, which led to stand-up comedy, knowing that Jerry Seinfeld got his start in the city. Well, we had been talking a couple of hours and was just on the verge of parting ways when he suggested we go to a comedy club. I thought, what the hell, right? I didn't really expect it would turn into anything, but I just knew I was in one of those moments that I was thinking to myself, this is exactly where I want to be, right now. My solitary day turned into a date at a comedy club. First date at a comedy club, this is something that should be mentioned in dating sites. Highly understated move. Think about it, sitting and laughing for two hours with a potential love interest. It worked. About a year later we were living together.

THE PROPOSAL

Well, the night he proposed I felt something was up. Firstly, he had been restless. Also, he is a picture guy/ amateur photographer, but good. He likes cameras, takes lots of pictures of everything, always, everywhere. All week he is in front of his computer editing photos and such. I mean, we have photos of us on the wall and things like that, and I like it because they are good memories, but I am too lazy to do something like that. So, he tells me he wants to go out to dinner on Friday to this Chinese restaurant called TAO in the Meat Packing District. He said we had to dress nice. So, I kind of suspected. Ordinarily, he wouldn't say something like that.

We arrive. We eat. We drink a bottle of wine and the whole time I am waiting for something special to happen. Nothing. He just talks. I mean, he is very loving and telling me all these nice things in a teasing way, like, "At your ugliest moment, you are still the most beautiful woman I have ever met." It's really kind of distracting because I am waiting for something to happen. My gut tells me something is going to happen. We finish eating, order a desert, finish the desert, and then asks for the bill. He pays the check and says let's grab a coffee. I am stunned. It's only like 9pm on a Friday. I am dressed up. He is dressed up. Frankly, I am a bit irritated, but I can't show it because he has been so sweet, and he took me out to this beautiful dinner, but I am ready for something. Finally, I resign, okay, so no proposal, at least let's make a night of it already. Do something. Coffee? Really? What can I say though? You can't really bitch about someone taking you out to a nice meal. I reluctantly agree.

We leave and walk a couple of blocks and arrive at Starbucks, yep, same Starbucks where we met. I honestly didn't connect. I was too distracted and in my own mind thinking about life, our relationship, the future. He orders, I sit. I didn't know it at the time, but he had paid a photographer who was off on the other side of the room. After a moment, he comes back with our espresso and he is holding this large wrapped present. It's big, right? I am wondering, did he have that all night? Did I not see? It's like a large book. And I think, okay, this is it. He could tell I was suspicious. "I just wanted to do something nice for you. I hope you like it."

I open it and it is a picture album, nothing else. "Remember," he says, "This is where we first met?" Finally, I connect it. But again, I am expecting a ring not an album. He sits next to me and starts looking through it with me. He is super sweet. I, on the other hand, am very emotional and hiding it, because really, at this point, to be perfectly honest, I am seriously disappointed. I am totally confused. The tops of the pages all have dates with descriptions; it looks really professional: ski trip, Napa Wine tour, Niagra Falls, me falling in the snow. All of these memories. So here I am recapturing my life together with him and each page just leaves me more and more disappointed. What was I thinking? I am feeling more and more foolish by the minute. I try to remind myself that this is all beautiful and nice, what is there to feel bad about? It's a very sweet gesture.

We get down to the last page, I turn it. I can barely turn it. It takes me a minute because I am really lost in my thoughts. Really, I just wanted to escape, to go home and sleep. I am having all of these thoughts now that he and I are in different spaces and that I have totally been misreading things. Then finally I focus and see the tag at the top of the last one. There at the top it reads, "The day you agreed to become my wife" I didn't get it at first. I was looking for the empty picture. Instead, It had a Rauschmayer ring taped where the picture should be. Suddenly, I lost it, a flood of emotion. He knelt down and these were his exact words, "From the very first time I spoke to you, sitting right here, I knew you were the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Aisha, will you marry me?" I was so happy. I hit him like five times before I said yes, I couldn't help myself, my god, he took me on such a roller-coaster that night... LOL. He knew exactly what he was doing too. That's what I love about him. His wit and the way he knows how to surprise me. The photographer walks over and congratulates us. I saw the people around all smiling. We were a real spectacle.