Eight years ago TODAY, Nazari and I celebrated our one year anniversary as a couple. When it came to making plans for this first big occasion, Nazari told me that he wanted to take care of all of the logistics and surprise me. Being in my senior year of nursing school, as well as being a big fan of his creative surprises to date, I was more than happy to oblige.
He gave me no hints as for what was to come, aside from, "Be Ready at noon". "Wear something comfortable, and bring a change of clothes for the evening." Weeks leading up to our anniversary, he informed me that he was crazy busy at work, and he apologized ahead of time for being "a douche".
At noon on that October Friday, I ventured outside my apartment to be greeted by sunshine and a 65 degree November day, and my sweet boyfriend holding a bouquet of flowers and exclaiming, "Happy Anniversary"!
We hopped in his car, and he gifted me with some art supplies (super sweet as I'm very into crafts ;), and took me to our first stop: The Museum of Natural History (to which I had never been!). As fun as it was, it turns out this was Plan B. His original idea fell through, or so he thought.
After perusing the museum, we returned to his car and ventured downtown toward the Science Center. En route, Nazari got a call from Plan A asking where he was. Thrilled that his original idea was back on, we jetted north for what I assumed was the main event of the day.
After nearly an hour of driving, we arrived at our destination: Skydive PA! (Guys! I had been dying to go skydiving since I was 16! I was elated!) The best part? Because of the earlier miscommunication, we had the opportunity to make our jumps during golden hour, and it was nothing short of magical (and terrifying!) But mostly magical. The other best part? Nazari didn't have health insurance at the time. But alas, we lived to tell the tale.
With the craziest adrenaline rush, we ventured back toward the city for dinner, which Nazari had arranged to be at the Georgetown Inn on Mount Washington! (Which sadly no longer exists). We had a delicious meal with a view of our favorite city. Nazari shared that he had one more thing planned for the night, but to have low expectations because, "It really wasn't that great."
En route, we had to make a pit stop. We ended up in Oakland to hit up Starbucks for some warm drinks (the temperature had dropped drastically!). He picked this particular spot, as it is where we had our very first date :)
If you're wondering at this point if I was suspicious, I was and I wasn't. We were on the same page about for sure wanting to marry each other. However, he had worked pretty hard to convince me that he was no where near being able to afford an engagement ring, so if he were to propose, it wouldn't be feasible until that next spring. However, I had painted my nails (which I rarely did...
I also wondered if this is what we did to celebrate year 1 of dating, how the heck would I compete with this in the future?!?)
Also.... While waiting in line for our Christmas cups, I tried to stick my hands in Nazari's coat pocket to warm them up, and he wouldn't let me! I found that odd, but! didn't want to ruin what was next, so chose not to push it.
Drinks in hand, we went back to the car to embark on the final stop of the day. After a few minutes, we arrived at Heinz Field (where Nazari worked at the time). There appeared to be some sort of event going on, however, we didn't join the crowd inside, but instead, took the stairs and ventured away from the masses. Nazari led me out into the (dark!) empty stadium and toward the seats that he had "reserved" for us ahead of time. We sat down and cozied up in the blanket I had made him that last Valentine's Day. He shared with me that this was one of his very favorite spots (it had a great view of the scoreboard, with the city lit up in the background!) He noted that during late nights at work, he would slip out to this spot to get some fresh air and clear his mind, as it helped everything just make sense. He then said something about how just like that, we "make sense" and a bunch of sweet things I don't quite remember. He finished by stating that someone should make a movie of our lives, With that, the jumbotron lit up, and on came a video Nazari had made about our lives and our story.
At the end, he got down on one knee, ring in hand, and asked me to be his wife. Shocked and speechless, I somehow gathered the resolve to ecstatically say yes :)
You can see the video he created at the bottom of the page!
