Sunday, August 6, 2023
We met at Yale University in 2013 when we were both accepted into the Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs. We became good friends by practicing music together, playing basketball on Saturday mornings, traveling with the Guild, and watching movies.
March 14, 2015 - Keshane and Meg began dating while on tour with the Guild in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
September, 2016 - Keshane let Meg use his toothbrush when she dropped hers in the mud while backpacking in the Grand Tetons.
October 1, 2018 - They moved in together for the first time in an apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts, along with their good friend Kate who was Meg’s roommate all through college.
Mid March, 2020 - They moved in for two weeks five months with Meg’s mom, brother, and niece to hide
away from the
pandemic in New Hampshire. Subsequently, they became obsessed (and very good at) ping pong and the board
game
Wingspan.
September 2, 2020 - They adopted their cat Salmon from a shelter just outside of Boston.
January 4, 2022 - They (along with Salmon) moved to Seattle, Washington for Meg’s new job.
July 9, 2022 - Meg proposed to Keshane at the Washington Arboretum.
Our friend Lucy called it a “proposal heist” and I think “heist” is a great word for it. Just like Ocean’s 11, there was careful planning, suspense, deception, allies, and, of course, love.
But first, some context: A few years ago Keshane and I got a foam finger from a Celtics’ game. Since then the foam finger has become an ongoing game for us. We take turns hiding it throughout the house for the other to find. The other person loses if they stumble upon the foam finger, but if they correctly guess where the other has hidden it, then they win. I knew early on that I wanted to use the foam finger for my proposal.
I took Keshane to the Washington Arboretum on the pretense that I wanted to explore a new area and see some birds. Our two great friends in Seattle, Alix Jansma and Aya Tsuruta, got to the park two hours early in order to find a good spot for the proposal. After walking around for a while, I led Keshane to Foster Point where Alix and Aya had placed the foam finger underneath a tree. Inside the foam finger was the ring. I proposed to Keshane and he said yes!
But I had one last surprise left for Keshane. Alix helped me plan a surprise engagement party for us at Yonder Cider House, so although Keshane thought just the four of us would be going out to celebrate, he was once again happily surprised to find all of our friends waiting for us there.
The previous weekend, Meg and I had visited Deception Pass on a whim, so when she asked to walk around the Washington Arboretum, I thought nothing of it. It was a little strange that Meg insisted we leave at a specific time and walk clockwise around the park, but nothing else raised suspicions.
Meg wanted to walk to this island that had good spots to see birds. I almost declined to continue because I was tired after the walk, but knew that Meg loved seeing birds and decided to press on. When I first saw the foam finger, my first thought was that it was a big coincidence that another fan of the Boston Celtics had brought a foam finger to the park and forgotten it on the ground. On closer inspection, I realized it was our foam finger, and that Meg had played the ultimate prank on me.
My initial dismay at being pranked soon turned into confusion and elation when Meg had me pull the ring out of the box. This proposal was the biggest, happiest surprise of my life, and I'm excited to spend the rest of my life with my most worthwhile competitor.
