As most people know, joe and I started talking about engagements about 6 months into dating. We both knew right away that this was forever. Over the next 4 years we grew together in North Andover. Once the pandemic hit, we decided we wanted to focus on looking for a house compared to getting married right away since we knew we wanted to have a big party. Joe and I bought our house in Aug 2020 and settled in quickly and made it ours. With so many holidays apart from family, Thanksgiving was the hardest to cope with. Thanksgiving is my (marys) favorite since its all about cooking with family and enjoying being together. That morning I was pretty sad and even tearing up while cooking because I really missed cooking with the family. Joe was pacing around the house all morning and even commented that I had put on yoga pants for Thanksgiving (to cook) which should have tipped me off because hes never commented on my clothes. He came into the kitchen and talked about taking out the trash multiple times, little did I know the ring was in the car. I was cutting up some rosemary and about to start lathering the raw chicken with butter when Joe said he needed to ask me a question. Still upset I simply said “what” and then was instantly SHOCKED when he said “I have wanted to ask you this question for a very long time”, got down on one knee and pulled out the ring box. Honeslty I was in so much shock I feel like I blacked out for some of what he was saying haha. I kept saying “oh my god, oh my god, this isnt real”. And it really was real! We hugged, kissed and cried and he told me that his plan all along was to propose in PA on thanksgiving and with covid messing that up, he still wanted to make my day happy. He knew it was going to be a hard day for everyone and wanted to do something special to really brighten up the day. After more hugs, tears and laughing, we called our families and celebrated with joes sister and her boyfriend.