I discovered the Japanese Garden of the Phoenix by accident when I was going for a jog in Hyde Park down the street from my grad school. I was struck by how beautiful the garden was, how peaceful and calm. I did not realize at that time it would be the place where I would mark one of the most significant moments of my life. When I decided that I was going to propose to Carly, I wanted everything to be perfect. I knew that I wanted it to be a beautiful spot and I wanted someone to be able to capture the moment. I reached out to my cousin Bridget who suggested that she pretend to invite us to brunch to give us a reason to go out to Hyde Park. The plan was that Bridget would call Carly and I once we were almost in Hyde Park to say that she had “missed” her train. Bridget of course though would actually be calling us from the Garden. I would then suggest to Carly that we could go for a walk in a beautiful spot while waiting for Bridget. I would get down on one knee and propose to her with the ring that my father had used to propose to my mother over thirty years ago. It was going to be perfect… However, even though I had been to the Garden a month before to doublecheck the setting, in the interval the construction around neighboring Obama Presidential Library had expanded and blocked off access to the Garden from the road. Therefore I had to drop Carly off by the Garden and park about a half mile away. I ran to join her while Bridget and her friend Sarah (a photographer)—both understandably confused—waited for us in the Garden. All ended well though. Carly and I walked down the path, through the wooden gate to the foot of the waterfall beside the pond. When Carly turned around to speak to the “stranger” (Bridget’s friend Sarah), I got down on one knee and said those words that would change both of our lives forever.