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Matt and I met in Nashville,TN the summer of 2005. We were very quickly put into the “long-distance” category of relationships as I went back to art school in Rhode Island and he ventured back to BYU in Utah. It’s amazing that although we were thousands of miles away and basically a country apart, we talked to each other every day for hours and saw each other once a month! Airlines loved us! I think there might have even been a few trips during our courtship that I spent more time traveling than I did actual time spent with Matt, but it was well worth it! Being long distance, we got to know each other so well with our 2-3 hour phone calls every night, although they had to wait until it was 9:00 mountain time, which meant I wasn’t going to bed until 1am…but that was pretty normal for art school anyway.

Most of our trips were to the other one’s location but a few times we had the opportunity to meet in fun places like Manhattan, where Matt’s brother and sister-in-law live, or Las Vegas where Matt’s dad lives. We had fun day trips to Boston and Newport, Rhode Island and when I spent a summer with Matt in Utah, we took a road trip to San Diego, CA – the place less than a year from that trip where we would seal the deal!

After our 2006 “summer of love” in Utah, I was certain that Matt would propose while we were in California for my birthday and when it didn’t happen, I was a bit disappointed. Matt flew back with me to Nashville, to then drive the 17 hours back to Providence for me to start another semester of school. I remember the day he flew back to Utah, I sat in my room crying…we had been together everyday for months and he was gone for at least 30 days – it was devastating and I knew I wanted to be with him forever, every single day of my life.

The next time we saw each other was midway through September in New York. Matt’s whole family was in town and we had a great long weekend together but when Matt flew back to Utah, and I was still missing a ring on my left hand, I was a little upset. I guess I’ll just have to wait until October, I thought. After Matt left New York on Tuesday, I stayed in the city because my class was coming to do a field trip on Thursday and Friday. By the time Friday rolled around, I had been gone from school for over a week and I was really feeling the itch to get back and get to work on all the assignments I was behind on – but my friend Gray just wouldn’t let me leave – he insisted that I meet him for breakfast on Saturday morning to meet a magazine editor he had worked with the previous summer. He then fed me a story about a huge party we were going to go to Saturday night. He especially stressed that his boss was going to be very critical of what I was wearing so, to make sure and wear something really cute.

The night before Matt’s brother and sister-in-law headed out of town and so I had Sheena’s closet to help me — she is a model! I found an adorable polka-dot top to wear with my black skinny jeans and off I went to meet Gray…

When I crossed 72nd street, I saw Grey standing outside a restaurant, holding a bag. As I approached, he whipped out a video camera. Yes, that’s right, a video camera, “Why are you video taping me?” to which Gray replied, “Oh, I just wanted to video you in the city, here open this,” and he handed me a light green envelope. As soon as I opened it, I knew I had been set up. It was obviously from Matt and the letter told me that throughout the day I would be going to places that we had shared memories together.

With Gray and video camera in tow, we went all over Manhattan that beautiful September day: Jamaba Juice to Kate Spade to Magnolia’s Bakery to the Phantom of the Opera theater to the MOMA to Mood Fabrics to Tiffany’s (where a necklace was waiting for me) to a Jazz club in Lincoln Center. At each location, people at the locations gave me the notes. Matt was just a few steps ahead of us the whole day. When we got to Dizzy’s jazz club, the last note said to leave Gray and to take the subway to Central Park and when I got out to, “Look to your feet for something pink.”

When I got out of the subway, I found pink arrows that Matt had sidewalk-chalked leading to “Strawberry Fields” in Central Park. Sitting under a pink arrow was my last note that ended with, “Look around the corner where your last clue is waiting patiently.” There he was, with a dozen roses and he bent down on one knee as asked me to make him the happiest man in the world. To top it off, when he opened the ring box, I fell to my knees as well. Crying, I said “Yes! Yes!”

As if the day hadn’t already been enough, he took me to see Wicked that night – which remains our favorite play so far. Matt and I love surprises and adventures. I love that our engagement story truly reflects who we are and will always be.

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