The McGrimms Story

Today I got engaged to my best friend. We've known each other since 2009 and tonight, on the eve of his birthday he popped the question. The day started out with touristy goodness.
We got up at an ungodly hour and took the bus from Howell, NJ to Manhattan where we made our way over to some bike rentals.

After we finished eating at Planet Hollywood, We left to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. I LOVED it! I saw all the greats from Leo diCaprio to George Clooney to the Spice Girls.

How the museum works is you start on the top floor and make your way down each level.
Bryan was starting to get antsy on about the second to the last floor and I had no idea why. As far as I knew, the wax museum was the last thing on the itinerary. I kept asking Bryan why he was rushing me through and he wouldn't answer me. Once we got out on the street, it started to sprinkle we ducked into the nearest McDonalds and went upstairs. Bryan said he wanted to show me something. He pulled out his tablet and a splitter with two sets of headphones. He started what looked like a homemade movie, but I couldn't hear anything because the McDonalds was so loud. I suggested we leave to somewhere more quiet and I could see Bry was getting visibly agitated. We left and walked around the corner to another building. We went inside to an empty lobby and asked the lady at the desk if we could sit there real quick to watch the movie. We parked it on the floor and Bryan turned the movie on again. Here it is:

After the movie ended, Bryan pulled out a blindfold and tied it on me. At this point, I wasn't sure what to think. I thought, "oh my gosh this is it", but then I also thought, "Nah, this is just the type of thing Bry does regularly". He gave me my iPod so I couldn't hear what was going on outside. He pulled me out the door, to the curb and hailed a cab. We got in the cab and drove for about 5 minutes.

I'm gonna pause here to let Bryan take over since I didn't actually witness any of the stuff we did until the actual proposal...

Bryan here! Ready to regale you with the extremely lavish and luxurious wedding proposal that I presented to Allysann.

She's right, I did painstakingly create a half hour long video that showcased every aspect of our relationship together up until that point in time.  I had imagined that we would watch the movie sitting on the famous Times Square bleachers, but alas it was raining, so we had to find the right shelter. What we found was not my first choice but it did in a pinch.  After I blindfolded my best-friend, I stuffed her into the back of a cab and told the driver, "to the Empire State Building!" It was funny that he didn't even seem to care that I had a young lady tied up in the back seat with me, he just punched the gas and away we went.

When we got to the base of the Empire State Building I was hoping to meet Ally's sister Sharon and brother-in-law Dan, we had been trying to get a hold of one another but to no avail.  So I was forced to leave my prisoner in the lobby of the building while I tried to get them on the phone.

It was at this point that the story takes a turn from ideal to hysterical.  As she stood there in the lobby, blindfolded, unable to hear anything, without a clue as to what was about to happen, a group of Chinese tourists led by an America tour guide took notice.  They circled her curiously and immediately started to barrage me with questions the minute I had returned.  So I told them I was proposing on top of the building, and just like that, our intimate party of two native Utahans turned into a bustling group of 12 Chinese and Americans.  Lucky for us the building wasn't crowded, thanks to the light drizzle and heavy cloud cover, and we walked through the seeming miles of line right up to the ticket counter.  By this point news had spread that a blindfolded captive was being led through the building.  The employees behind the counter were all squealing with delight, they kept suggesting ideas, and silently applauding.  The ticket-lady, in order to throw Ally off the trail, announced,"Welcome to JFK airport."  They then whisked us in front of a camera and snapped a picture of an unsuspecting Allysann and her captor:

At this point, we were being guided toward an open elevator and I heard a muffled shout. I turned my head and saw two very large black ladies jogging through the empty queue and then I lost sight as we were rushed into the elevator by our new Chinese family.  As the elevator doors began to close, a hefty red-fingernail laden hand grasped the edge and pried the doors open, "Nuh-uh," the woman insisted, "we comin' with you, we family!" That was the end of it, we had just added two more members to our increasingly bizarre collection of humans. We were whisked up to the top of the tower and the doors opened.  At this point I was getting extremely nervous. What if she said no?  Now it would happen in front of a group of new "family members" but at that moment I spotted Sharon and Dan and their girls and my determination renewed. I started to guide my soon to be fiance around the outside deck of the building searching for the perfect spot.  In my hunt for the prime proposal perch, I was apprehended by building security.  "What are you doing with that poor girl?!"  he bellowed, as if I planned to throw her over! I quickly stated that I planned on proposing and the concern melted from his face as he was quickly pushed back by the small crowd that had formed on the rooftop.

After finally deciding on a spot, with Dan in position to film, I told Allysann to remove her blindfold and....  well I'll just let you see for yourself.

After we finished up on the roof we made our way back downstairs and ran into our new Chinese family.  We, of course, took the obligatory group shot.

We then got a nice ride home on the New Jersey Transit bus, making phone calls to family members and talking about all we wanted  to do together in our future lives.