That was until one day I received a Facebook message (what else these days) from a friend I had known in college. He was looking to buy an investment property and it just so happened he knew I was a Realtor. The first day we began to look at homes Jarryd didn’t ride in on a white horse, or even a brown one for that matter, it was a silver BMW, so naturally (out of old habit) I paid no attention. He bought the property and we said our “goodbyes, nice to see you again, we will talk real soon”. Little did I know he had feelings towards me so I was shocked when he called telling me he wanted to buy ANOTHER property. He must have realized he would have to tell me he how he felt because buying properties just to keep me around was getting expensive. I am sure I will be forever known as his most expensive dating experience. So, instead of buying that second property, he decided to take me out to dinner. And so our story continued….

Three short years later, January 7, 2011 to be exact, Jarryd surprised me with a weekend getaway, only catch was he wouldn’t tell me where we were going. I was told to pack everything from a bathing suit to snow gear. I still don’t know why he showed any sign of shock when he showed up and I had three large suitcases that needed to be loaded up. I then sat in the passenger seat, blindfolded, for the next 4 hours. It was probably the only relaxing drive we have ever taken together, since he insists my backseat driving makes him crazy and I am sure he can’t possibly drive without me telling him how to do it. But I sat there, in the dark, and when he finally let me take it off we were in the Lincoln Tunnel!

As soon as we arrived we walked to Central Park. It was my first time, and even though my toes were already frozen from the snow, I was excited. We boarded a carriage, not horse drawn (remember I gave up on that fairy tale), bicycle drawn and began our tour. We made a stop and Jarryd and I took a walk down a snow covered path, until we reached a beautiful ivory colored bridge hovering over an icy pond. We stood in the middle of the Bow Bridge for quite some time, taking in the views of New York City. Then he turned to me and got down on one knee, in the snow, pulled out a little blue box, and asked those four words, “Will you marry me?”.

It was the moment I had dreamed about for years and shockingly my instant reaction was to jump off the bridge, run the other way, or get sick. I had given up on this long before, how was this happening? But, everything in my heart had told me that even though he didn’t have the horse, we hadn’t met at a ball, our story didn’t start with Once Upon a Time… he was my prince. He made me believe in my fairy tale again.