New York City was high on my travel list. I wanted to eat authentic New York-style pizza and be in awe of the concrete jungle. So when my boyfriend mentioned that we should make a trip to NYC before he went to Princeton for two weeks, I thought about the state of my financials, my anxiety towards flying and whether I would get the days off.
“Let’s do it,” I told Josiah.
And on Thursday, July 12, my mom, brother, Josiah and myself were en route to Newark, New Jersey.
Wednesday Night
Since it was my first time in NYC, I decided to treat myself by booking an Airbnb on the Upper East Side, two blocks from Central Park. I was thrilled until the host decided to cancel on us the evening before we were to supposed to fly out.
While I was on the phone with Airbnb, Josiah and my mom were frantically looking for a place for us to stay. We found a cheap hotel two blocks from Hell’s Kitchen and two blocks from Central Park. It would have to do.
Thursday Morning
I don’t fly well. Most of the morning was filled with anxiety, and breathing exercises. That’s all I will say about that.
We booked our room at the Hotel The Watson. The hotel was old, in a cute way. Our rooms smelled funky, and our AC was barely working. But we were grateful. We had a roof over our heads, a place to sleep and a shower.
Thursday Evening
I would do anything for cute pics, so I made my mom, Josiah and my brother dress nicely. Off we went with our GPS on silent, dressed nicely to take photos.
The sun was beginning to set when we arrived, so we tried to find a spot that we could see it. We started to take photos of each other and the magical sunset. As it got dark, we began to head back.
“Let’s sit here,” my mom said. I moved toward another seat. “I like the view better here!”
“Let’s take a picture?” asked Josiah when he sat next to me. My mom volunteered to take our photo.
I began to smile wide when I felt a soft tap on my shoulder. Ready to hear a witty comment from Josiah, I turned to face him coming face-to-face with a gorgeous white gold engagement ring with an aquamarine stone. The exact one I had wanted and had playfully shown him months prior.
“YES!” I screamed without letting him ask the question. A small group of people had surrounded us at this point and began to applaud. Tears were falling from my face as I kissed my new fiance.
“At least let me ask the question. Wait, when did you get the ring on?” asked Josiah as I admired the beauty of my ring on my finger.
We stayed at the High Line for a while, taking a lot of photos with my engagement ring especially after I realized that I had the ring on the wrong hand. I kept having to wipe my tears away from how happy I was and how surreal that moment felt.
After calling and texting our loved ones, we started walking back to our hotel when we realized we were all hungry. That’s when we made our first mistake. We found ourselves at a Tex-Mex restaurant named The Original Tex Mex. The food was bland, my mom’s margarita was disgusting, and the service was mediocre.
We went to bed exhausted, but our hearts were content.
I wasn’t expecting for Josiah to propose during our trip. I expected us to enjoy our seven scoop ice cream bouquet, eat our weight in pizza and take the cutest photos. Instead, I found a handsome fiance who makes me the happiest woman in the universe.
The best part? Because most of my college friends were journalism/communication majors, they came up with the best wedding hashtag: #KimGetsACouch
I cannot wait to start planning the next chapter of our lives.