Our Engagement Story: Midnight on Christmas Eve in NYC!

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After almost eight months working in Peru, Kaitlin left her job there and flew to Virginia to spend the holidays with her mom. Shaun flew to Virginia -- his first time on the East Coast! -- to spend the holidays with Kaitlin and her family. The day before Christmas, they went to New York City, where they rented a flat on the Upper East Side, and spent a few days exploring the Big Apple.




On Christmas Eve, the wind was blowing and the temperature was dropping. But Kaitlin and Shaun braved the elements to go to a midnight mass at St Thomas's Cathedral in midtown New York. They walked briskly towards the sound of chiming bells, and found the cathedral with a line of people shivering in the cold. The stores up and down the streets were lit up with Christmas lights. The cathedral was packed, but the line inched forward and the doorman looked at Kaitlin and said, "Okay, you're the last one." Kaitlin squeezed through the door, holding Shaun's hand. She looked back and saw the doormen about to close the door on Shaun's arm. The doorman finally said, "Alright, go on in, but he's really the last one."

We sat down towards the back of the cathedral and gazed in awe at the Gothic pointed arches, the massive main altar and pipe organ, and the beams of light falling across the nave. The men's and boy's choir sung Christmas carols and beautiful hymns. The liturgy was easy to follow and meaningful, even for us Protestants.

At the end of the service, Shaun suggested that they wait until everyone else had filed out, and then they could move up closer to see the rest of the cathedral. We sat down in a pew off to the side, in the transept, where we could have some privacy, and Shaun pulled out a poem that he had written for Kaitlin. They read the poem together, which ends:

"I think there is a wedding happening soon."

"But where is the bride, where is the groom?"

"Look! There he is, kneeling into his depths."

"What can lift him?"

"Only the will of her favor."

"Speak your answer darling daughter of heaven!

“Speak!"

And as they read the poem, Shaun knelt on one knee, and pulled out a ring, and then said simply, "Will you marry me?"

It's clear what Kaitlin, "the darling daughter of heaven," gave as her answer.


Even this crappy camera-phone shot reveals our excitement - just minutes after he proposed!
Check out the rest of our NYC and Engagement Photos!

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