Back To Where It All Began - An Engaging Story

Seven years ago on Nov 23, 2005, Brad and I went on our first date after chatting online for a week or so. We decided to meet the night before Thanksgiving in Georgetown to catch the opening of RENT in theaters and then grab dinner afterwards.  We loved the show and then stolled our way down M street and landed at Pizza Paradiso for dinner.

Something that night clicked and we both new we wanted to see each other again. That night started it all, and now seven years later we have a beautiful family, with a beautiful home in the burbs. Life could not be better.

On that day -- November 23, 2005 -- I don't think we could have dreamed of the day that marriage equality would pass in both Washington, DC and Maryland.  However, let's fast forward this story a little to November 23, 2012.....

It is not the day after Thanksgiving - Black Friday, and we have made arrangments to go our for our anniversary (we celebrate our first date as our anniv) while our friend, Teresa, babysat Kyler for the evening. Brad was hopeful that we could "revisit" the past and catch a movie at the same Georgetown theater and some dinner at Pizza Paradiso.  Okay...not a bad idea.  We checked into the movies, the show times, and weighed our options for getting there and back in a normal time so Teresa was not with Kyler all night. I made a few brief attempts to just grab a movie in downton Silver Spring and dinner at our favorite restaurant, Olazzo.  A viable option we would enjoy (and save time), but Brad had his heart set on reliving our first date.  Yes, it was a romantic idea and we both agreed to just do it.

We made the drive downtown in record time and found parking pretty quick, so the night was starting off just fine. We got the Pizza Paradiso, and it was packed. Wuh-wah! A 45-minute wait was ahead of us, but that would prevent us from getting to the movie on time. Our chance to relive our first date was starting to come a bit unraveled. Luckily they offered to seat us at the "bar" in front of the pizza makers if we wanted. We jumped at it and sighed relief that we would have plenty of time to enjoy our evening with a pizza. 

Now comes the fun stuff. We ordered some champagne with our meal, and sat back and enjoyed the buzz happening before us. Within our conversation, we started talking about when and how we wanted to get married.  Do we want a big event? Do we do something small & intimate? Do we jump to Aruba and get hitched on the sand?  We had been waiting for marriage equality to pass in our state and planned to marry as soon as it did, but we really hadn't discuss "how."  Well, the time had come....we needed to start discussing what our options were...yadda, yadda, yadda.

Our meal comes, but before we can get to it, Brad hands me a gift to open.  Dammit!  "I didn't know we were doing gifts!"   Now I'm hacked off (internally) because I thought our "gift" was going to be the wonderful evening out we had planned.  Okay, okay....learned my lesson on that one. So, after putting down the lonely anniversary card I had for Brad, I start opening the gift. Low and behold there is a beautiful watch inside. Stunning and shining in the lights of the restaurant, it took my breath away. I could not have picked out a more perfect watch.  **Side note:  if you don't know Brad, he's an amazing gift giver. Quite a talent to always find that perfect gift.**  

So now I feel like the entire restaurant is looking at me (which they're not....get over myself) and I start putting on the watch.  Brad says, "There's an inscription."   Of course there is! This master gift giver has had this all planned out well in advance. I turn the watch over and instantly see today's date "Nov 23, 2012" on the top part of the back. My smile widens...."how sweet is that" I'm thinking.  Then my eyes scan to the bottom part of the back -- there's more inscription. The bottom contains the simple words, "Will You Marry Me?"

WHAT!?  This sneaky sucker....oh how I love him. Catching me off guard like this and doing something so comletely romantic and dripping with emotion.  I just kept smiling. I think at some point he said, "Well?"   Oh yah....I forgot my role.  "YES!" pops out and so starts the celebration and the Facebook posts.

We then made the movie, drove home and relieved our fabulous babysitter of her duties. It was a most memorable evening -- one that we will enjoy telling our children. Everyone needs a story. Even though we are a same-sex couple, we deserve one too. Thank you, Brad, for making our story possible.

WE'RE ENGAGED!

And yes, I did the right thing.....I picked up the restaurant bill and movie.   :)