The Proposal

Sotia kept asking Mario if he had bought a ring yet. They were going to Cyprus soon to see family and couldn’t arrive on the island in June without a little jewelry. Mario kept saying he’d let her know when he ordered it.

Mario, of course, did not let her know.

Mario knew that the proposal had to be spectacular, memorable, and nothing short of epic. To that end, he concocted a plot with everyone from the wedding party (Joel, I know you were there in spirit) to help surprise Sotia with this elaborate scheme.

Like any good management consultant, he created a battle plan for his proposal team in Prezi.

The Alibi: Mario told Sotia that one of the Partners, Chuck DeWitt, asked him to attend a work function on Memorial Day weekend at the Jefferson Memorial for Police Memorial week. Thus, they got dressed up, as Mario made it known there would be photographers at the event. Thankfully, Sotia didn’t actually Google any of this or she would have found out it was actually the week before.

Having already scouted the area a week prior with Eden, Mario and Sotia arrive down the street from the Jefferson Memorial at the George Mason Memorial where the alleged event photographs are to be taken prior to the event. As they walk towards the memorial, Sotia is quite irate as it’s 110 degrees in the shade and there’s not a tree in sight.

This does little to distract her from noticing a creepy tourist photographer with a red polo in the bushes.

Mario thought that Memorial Day weekend would be ideal for a proposal as tourists descend into DC like locusts, thereby making it easier for his two close friends, Alex and Eden, to blend in as tourists as they take photos and video of the proposal. Instead, the Memorial was deserted except for Mario, Sotia, Alex hiding in the bushes, and Eden photographing trees.

Thankfully, Sotia didn’t recognize either of them.

So, just as Mario dons his jacket, the cue for the cameramen to start recording, Sotia notices some dirt on her heels. She utters some choice words at her favorite shoes being soiled and proceeds to pour water on them to clean them off.

Mario attempts to assuage her but Sotia is inconsolable. And, of course, Mario knows that this is all being recorded now by his phone in his chest pocket, a photographer, and a videographer.

Eventually, Mario manages to distract Sotia from dirt long enough to gain her attention and bring her to the center of the plaza.

Now, as part of proposal preparations, Pam’s job was to take Sotia to the nail salon to get a manicure the week before.

Pam regrettably failed.

Despite significant effort and coercion, Sotia did not want to get a matching manicure for Pam’s birthday. Allegedly, manicures ruin too quickly and pedicures are more practical. Sotia has never made a practical decision since.

As Mario gets down on one knee to propose, he naturally leads off with, “You should have gotten that manicure.”

Once the initial shock wears off, and Mario senses that Sotia wants to wear the ring, Mario asks Sotia if she will marry him, and she says yes. They then go to sit on a bench as a newly engaged couple. Eventually, the cameramen come closer for better shots and Sotia asks if Mario hired these people. As their faces appeared from behind the cameras, she was surprised to recognize Alex and Eden as the cameramen.

The guys proceed to take some more photos of the couple and Sotia asks Mario if this was all a ruse. Mario responds that there were never any photographers for the event and that they arrived half an hour early before its start because Sotia always said she wanted to have a very private proposal. However, they were running slightly late for the work event at the Jefferson Memorial.

Sotia begrudgingly agrees to still attend the event.

Thus, they walk to the Jefferson Memorial and start climbing up the many steps to get inside. As they walk up, Sotia asks, “Who are all those people waving at us?” while standing twenty feet from her mother. “No idea…” And then she simultaneously recognizes that thirty of their close friends and family are at the Memorial. “MARIO! What did you do?!” Mario noted that the proposal was very private and, technically, already over. Now, everyone was waiting there to congratulate the happy couple on the engagement for the second surprise of the day.

The third, and final, surprise was that Mario had organized an engagement party at a local pizzeria to celebrate the occasion where everyone ate, drank, and was very merry with the happy couple.