The proposal happened on Koivu’s 6th birthday on May 20th 2016. I got off work early to run errands with Devon for Koi’s birthday BBQ that weekend, only to find our apartment Devon free! On the kitchen counter was a handwritten note and a map that lead to the theatre room in our condo. I was instructed to freshen up and bring the Harry Potter DVDs so we could finish marathoning!

When I opened the door to the theatre, I found him standing in the middle of the room with a big smile on his face. He was wearing a white collared dress shirt with a tie and a vest. He took my hand and walked me around the theatre room that was dressed in red roses and photos of our recent travels together; Cuba, Boston, Trinidad, New York and Montreal. He told me to get comfy and to sit back and relax while he popped in the movie. To no surprise, Harry Potter did not play. Instead, it was a homemade video collage; a mixture of photos from our travels, weddings, family Christmas parties and a home movie from when I surprised him with New England Patriots tickets. The last part of the video ended with me holding a photo booth prop from a wedding they attended. The prop was a sign that said, “Where’s my ring?”

After the video ended, he took my hand and we walked to the middle of the room where he held me close and explained how much he loved me. My heart was racing and I could feel his beating out of his chest too as I had a feeling what was to come next. With his brother’s help, Koivu came in the room with a ring box tied around his neck. Dev gave me a treat to feed Koivu in exchange for the ring box. I opened the box and to my surprise, it was empty! I turned around to look at Devon, down on one knee with the biggest smile on his face, holding a ring! I gasped and started crying with tears of joy! He asked, “Will you Marry Me?” Through the tears, I hugged him. He had to ask “Is that a yes?”

When we got back to the apartment, there were flower petals on the floor outside our front door. Inside, was a trail of more flower petals leading to the living room where there were two slices of red velvet cake, a bottle of champagne in a bucket of ice, strawberries and a beautiful bouquet of my favourie flowers, calla-lillies! We enjoyed the delicious treats while we called our families to share the good news! The surprise evening continued when he blind folded me on the way to dinner. He took me to the restaurant where we had our first date and where I learnt he was the one.