HIS SIDE ... 

the story of our relationship, according to Nigel

I think it all really started at our good friend's engagement party -- Mollie and James Sharpe in early 2018. I got to meet Mollie's parents; Patti and Mike Kehoe and I also absolutely ripped into the free bar that was on offer. For some unknown reason, Patti thought I was a reasonable human being (something James does not understand to this day) and in April, she suggested via Mollie that I meet this person called Meghan, the older sister of one of Mollie's childhood friends... 

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Meghan proved harder to schedule than a moon landing, but in the last few weeks of July there was finally a date. We were going to have a double date with the Sharpe's at a bar in the West Village in New York City. At this point, James started referring to Meghan as "my betrothed" or "the future Mrs. Riley" which I assumed meant that this was all going to be a disaster. 

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I got to the bar early and everyone else was late. This unsurprisingly didn't bother me and I was happily having a few drinks when this dark haired, beautiful woman walked in. I presumed she was Meghan (she only had 2 photos of herself on her Instagram) and I smiled and we hit it off. We had dinner at Rosemary's that night and I walked her home, with Meghan's directions getting us totally lost. After a first kiss, she agreed to go to a Mets game with me the following week (even though she is a Yankees fan). 

From there followed a whirlwind of fun and getting to know each other: a first overnight trip outside New York City to Scranton (where the US version of The Office was set) to tear up the dance floor at Luke and Ann Longcroft's wedding, and a first international trip to Rome and London in December.  

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I met Brittany (Meghan's sister and a key instigator in our 'set up'), Danielle, and Barb & Jeff toward the end of 2018 in NYC. I braved a trip to the "tundra" (Fairport, NY) in February 2019 to meet the rest of the gang, see Meghan's home town, and go skiing. In March, I took Meghan back to the UK to see Bristol where she discovered a taste for Thatchers Gold and Bristol Bears Rugby (we saw an amazing win and Meghan got a picture with her favorite player, Harry Randall, at the end of it!), but didn't actually meet any of my family. In April 2019, we schlepped to Australia to finally meet the Riley's. 

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We moved in together into an amazing new apartment on the Upper West Side in May. We spent the summer having dinner on our balcony and taking trips to see family and friends. In October, we headed to Japan for the Rugby World Cup and a very close encounter with super typhoon, Hagibis. After a full on November - January of more travel (London, Paris, Rochester, Bristol, Birmingham, Switzerland, Ireland, Australia), a last minute trip was booked to Italy to celebrate Valentine's Day and take advantage of the President's Day weekend...

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HER SIDE ... 

the story of our relationship, according to Meghan

In April of 2018 in the back of an Uber, I got a text from my sister Brittany saying "Mollie has a guy she wants to set you up with, would you be willing to get together with them and meet him?". Mollie was one of Brittany's best friends from growing up who I always loved but hadn't seen in years, and Brittany was hell-bent on me putting myself out there and finding a great guy. So I replied "yeah okay" and proceeded to take every opportunity to make myself incredibly busy and unavailable throughout the spring and most of summer. 

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Now, it wasn't that I was intentionally avoiding getting together, but being honest the idea of it all made me a little nervous. And I did have legitimate travel booked to various parts of the country for a busy work schedule and personal commitments. I definitely wasn't going above and beyond to be in NYC for an extended period of time. 

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In mid-July, while seriously contemplating a move to Chicago, I was in Rochester, NY where I grew up, to throw my parents a Surprise 40th Wedding Anniversary party. At the party, Mollie's mom, Patti, pulled me aside and said "Meghan, I know you have a lot going on and all but you really just have to meet this guy Nigel. I'm not saying anything has to happen but you really just should meet him." 

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So I thought about it. I knew nothing about him other than his name was Nigel, he was British, and he played rugby with Mollie's husband, James. Later that week as I was chatting about it with my best friend, Becky, it dawned on me that I hadn't even attempted to look him up. I found who I was pretty certain was "Nigel" through some Facebook stalking and thought to myself, "okay he's cute, I like English people, and what the hell, I'm probably going to move anyway what's the harm in getting together."  Through Mollie, a date was agreed and set. 

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On July 31st, I found myself running late (as usual) to a bar called The Highlands in the West Village where we all agreed to meet. Nigel was standing opposite the bar, having a beer when I walked in. We both recognized each other and he greeted with me a hug and the warmest smile I think I've ever seen in my life (his smile is still one of my favorite things about him). Within a few minutes of chatting I thought "uh oh, I think I could really like this guy." Our drinks turned into dinner at a restaurant nearby and a fun night of getting to know each other. Despite being in the neighborhood of NYC that I'd lived in for years, when he walked me home from dinner back to my apartment, I managed to take us on the most nonsensical, out of the way route back. It could have been the drinks, but a more logical explanation is that I was already in the process of falling head over heels for Nigel. 

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In the month that would follow our relationship just naturally took off. We spent a bunch of time together, including an O.A.R. concert, a Mets game, Mini Golf, journeys to Red Hook in Brooklyn ... I looked forward to weekends and the nights when we had dates planned! We discovered that we both had trips planned at the end of August with some unfortunate timing -- Nigel was heading back to the UK and then onto Croatia and Bosnia for 1.5 weeks, and the day before he came back I was flying to Portugal to spend two weeks exploring the country with a bestie, Maureen. It was a bit nerve wracking being a pivotal time in a new relationship, but we stayed connected the entire time we were apart, talking and texting constantly. The day I came home, Nigel raced down to the West Village where I was greeted with that same amazing, warm smile and huge hug and kiss. We didn't miss a beat. 

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I'd say the rest is history! We were pretty much inseparable after that, planning for and taking many adventures, near and far. I loved going to Bristol to see where Nigel grew up, meeting his mates and being initiated to Bristol Bears rugby at Ashton Gate (trust me, I had been initiated prior to that, but the in person experience was really awesome!) I also loved traveling to Australia to meet and spend time with the Riley fam in Orange, Melbourne, and Batemans Bay! My family and friends were instantly obsessed with Nigel, perhaps partially due to his charming English accent, but also because, let's be honest, what is not to love. 

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Patti .... you were 1000% right, I had to meet that man! Nigel is the love of my life!

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THE PROPOSAL ... 

an impromptu weekend trip to Florence, Italy

We traveled extensively at the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020, with a large amount of it being related to or 'conveniently incorporated' around rugby or Nigel's work (which Meghan became increasingly not shy about pointing out). We decided we would take one last trip to take advantage of time off around President's Day weekend in February and then chill it out for a while (little did we know with the impending quarantine, it truly would be a while, but that is beside the point of the story!). 

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So Nigel got his travel booking hat on and thought he'd find something in the Caribbean or close to the US for a sensible weekend away. Unfortunately, we realised we were about 10 months too late when the only option that seemed remotely reasonable was a beach resort in Southern Puerto Rico that was experiencing an 'earthquake swarm.' In what was no doubt sheer desperation and defeat, Nigel uttered "for these prices we could just go to Europe" to which Meghan replied with an eyebrow raised, a twinkle in her eye, and side smile "why don't we look at flight prices to Florence?" 

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Here's where it's important to make a note to the reader: Nigel has visited virtually every continent and countless countries all over the world, but he'd never been to Florence, Italy. Florence was not only one of the rare cities that Meghan had been to that Nigel had not; it's also her favorite city on Earth, the only place she'd traveled solo in, and she was desperate to have Nigel experience and share the same love for the city and its history that she had. 

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As fate would have it, flight prices to Milan were incredibly cheap. So, on Super Bowl Sunday in early Februrary, we laughed at the ridiculousness of it all, and booked a trip to Florence, via Milan, for the weekend of February 14th - 16th. 

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At this point, the significance of being in Meghan's favorite place on earth on Valentine's Day really sunk in for Nigel. As a self-proclaimed "bad gift giver and forgetter of significant dates", he decided that going big with an engagement on Valentine's Day in Florence would probably give him some air cover for future snafus, and he suspected that Meghan would say yes. 

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He then moved into stealth mode to quickly get a ring, sneaking home at lunchtime to measure some of Meghan's existing rings and having it delivered to a FedEx next to his work the morning we would fly off. He was deliberately vague about the timing for when he'd leave work for the airport, and deliberately arrived 30 minutes earlier than Meghan to go through security alone and avoid the potential of an eager TSA agent going through bags to find a rock and ruining the surprise. 

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We flew overnight to Milan, arriving the morning of Valentine's Day. We took in the city, including the 'Last Supper' (100% recommend) and jumped on a train to FLorence in the afternoon. On the train, Meghan turned to Nigel and said "Nige, we talked about scheduling tours in Florence but we didn't end up booking anything, did we? Do you have anything planned"? 

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Nigel, having decided to propose that evening (given he didn't even have a Valentine's Day card and resisted the multiple offers to buy a single, long stemmed rose from various street vendors in Milan), turned and said "Meg, this is YOUR favorite city. Florence is all on you."

Meghan, taken slightly aback, and nervous about the potential to have travelled all the way to Florence and miss the Duomo, David, etc., took that in for a few seconds and then quickly mobilized to do some frantic Google searching to book tours and a schedule for the weekend. She was also aware there had been no Valentine's Day card or gesture yet, but gave herself a mental pep talk that being in Florence at such last minute notice WAS the Valentine's Day plan this year, and anything beyond that was ridiculous to expect! 

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We arrived in Florence and walked from the Santa Maria Novella train station to our hotel, wheeling our luggage down the crowded, narrow, cobblestone streets. Meghan suspected that Nigel would be fascinated by the Duomo, for all of the obvious reasons, but also because of his love and appreciation for the history around it. Despite having multiple bags in tow, we peered down streets to get a glimpse of it ever chance we could get. But the walk to the hotel would never afford us the full on view! 

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Over a cocktail on the rooftop of our hotel, we decided we'd take a walk to dinner and pick a restaurant by the river and make sure we walked by the Duomo on the way, because Meghan insisted that it was THE icon that Nigel needed to see right away. (Little did Meghan know that the plans she thought she was creating were falling perfectly in line with what Nigel had already schemed up). 

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So we strolled down the street toward the Duomo, with Nigel optimizing the route in order to get into the best position. When we arrived, Nigel's reaction to it was more than Meghan could hope for. He marvelled at it and commented how 'the green and pink colors used were so representative of The Renaissance.' And Meghan could not have been more pleased with herself when Nigel said 'let's go around the side to get a look from another angle'.

"Yes! He loves it!" She thought. Which he did, but was also getting us into a position where it was more private and there were fewer people walking around. 

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Then and there, on the South side of the Duomo, he got down on one knee and asked "Meg, will you marry me?". Meghan, shocked, immediately started laughing and crying at the same time and threw her arms around Nigel. After a few seconds he nervously followed up to ask, "so is that a yes?". Obviously it was. 

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From there, we took selfies, shared the news with our families (gleefully recounting the story to them on the phone while aimlessly wandering through the streets) and found the most delicious restaurant, Buca Mario, to have a celebratory dinner of Florentine Steak, Homemade pasta, and of course, a bottle of Barolo. 

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