NYC Day 2 - Part 2

I left off this walk down memory lane last week, as Jay and I were just about to leave Central Park. We now join our story already in progress...

I needed to find a bathroom, but none were easily accessible from where we were in the park. As we were headed out to the park, Jay mentioned that he was tired and he wanted to rest for a little bit from all the walking and sit down on a secluded bench.

I thought it was odd that he was tired when I wasn't, but I didn't say anything. As usual he read my mind and asked me if I was going to blog and let all my friends know that he was a sissy that tired quickly walking around in the park.

We found a bench and sat down. Then he asked me if I remembered our first date - sitting outside of Johnny Carino's on a bench waiting to be seated. "I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you." Then the moment happened - he got down on one knee.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Jay: Brooke Middle Maiden, will you marry me?

Me: Of course I will. I love you

At this point we're hugging. And then the bling. 23 diamonds. One marqee cut diamond in the center with rows of 3 deep baggets on the sides for 3 rows on either side and the last row with 2 diamonds. Making it all the more beautiful is the fact that the center diamond was the stone that his father first gave to his mother.



(I've actually been told since this blog, that this isn't the greatest photo of the ring and that its prettier in person. Please note that its white, not yellow gold. I meant to take a picture of the set - the wedding band has 10 additional stones in a similar patter, but I forgot. And I've kept you waiting long enough.)

I have to confess that I was so impressed with the ring that I kept saying a phrase that my grandmother would chastise me for. But when the time comes we can delete that from the story to tell the kids right?

We sat on the bench for a while longer, just taking the moment in. Then he confessed that from the time we entered Central Park to the moment he asked he was on the look out for an empty bench that wasn't heavily populated.

(Please note: we were big dorks and forgot to take pictures of the moment. Please hang around until NYC Day 4 to see our best recreation effort.)

I tried to call my sister to let her be the first to know (my parents had already been tipped off by Jay) but she didn't answer. She called me back fairly quick, and it didn't take her long to confess that Mother had already spilled the beans. I immdediately started considering how to dress shop for a Matron of Honor that's 8 months pregnant when the wedding is only 6 months away.

The rest of the calls had to wait as we got on the subway and intended to head toward Filene's Basement to check out their bargains. Little did we know there was an "investigation" on the subway of a stalled train. We were forced to head Uptown to 125th Street in Harlem to board a Downtown Train back to 23rd Street in Manhattan.

After traveling 102 blocks on the subway, we arrived at Filene's Basement. After all a girl needs a new dress to coordinate with her newly aquired accessory. A mass text message went out to all my friends letting them know the big news.

One of my cousins responded back "huh?" to my text. The original message had said "a silver eagle has landed in Central Park with a couple of carrots in its mouth." Then I got a call from Maria - when I answered the phone she said "who is this?" It took only knowing that the text was from me for her to figure it out.

After purchasing a lovely wrap dress in the store - and talking to my Mamaw, my brother-in-law, and my niece - we headed toward Century 21 Department Store. Or so we thought. It felt like we walked forever and then walked some more.

Remember me looking for a restroom in Central Park? I still hadn't found one. Finally we found a sandwich/soup cafe that we stopped in to eat at and I headed straight for the restroom. We discovered quickly that we wanted to get in and get out in a hurry. Since the ladies room door was locked, I headed into the men's.

Out on the street we still had no clue where we were going. We were hesistant to ask for directions, but saw a group of cops on the side of the road and decided to go ahead and ask. This cocky sonofa... pieceof... officer interrupted us with the question of directions we asked and assured us that if we turned left at Chambers it would run right into the store. Turns out he gave us directions straight to the police station....

At 8 o'clock on the nose we headed into Century 21's doors, only to be turned away. It was closing time. And if that lousy, unprintable name hadn't sent us off on a wild goose chase, we would have made it. The NYPD is going to receive a scathing email from me. I'm quite certain he'll either be repremanded or fired. Or not.

When we walked out of the store I saw heaven across the street. Okay so it was just McDonald's, but I was really thirsty and the thought of a large coke sounded like a godsend! Thanks to Jay and google map (accessed on his fancy cell phone) we walked a few blocks down and got on the subway to finally head home. I was exhausted and took my shoes off on the ferry ride back. I think I got an evil look from a young girl as I was complaining about my feet hurting. So because she walks with a cane she thinks she can judge my aching feet? Yeah, I felt pretty bad about that.

When we got back to the B&B my fiance (its really fun to say that) gave me a wonderful footrub. I'm a lucky girl.

Head over to Rachel's for some more love stories, and don't forget to check back next week - this story is far from over!!