It was Spring 2009, and both were in grad school - Lisa at Columbia, Ezra at Rutgers.
Lisa was writing a thesis and getting ready to leave her PhD program for art school at SVA. Many of Lisa’s classmates had left for summer research projects, her sister had just moved away, and her two closest friends had relocated. With her friends moving out of town, Lisa wanted someone to go to the movies with.
Ezra was living alone in New Brunswick, New Jersey. We’ll save you the gory details, but to give you an idea there was no good pizza anywhere, he was surrounded by undergrads, and his house was falling down around him. Thankfully, he had online dating. God bless the internet. A few clicks and three months later (remember, Lisa, thesis), and he had himself a date with a redheaded children’s illustrator.
Lisa almost called to cancel even before the first date...I mean, no offense to the handsome fella, but it was internet dating. Her roommates finally convinced her to go. (Thank goodness for Callie and Nicole.)
On July 8, 2009 (7-8-9!) they had their first date. A week later, their second, and then their third. They filled the summer with pizza, concerts, Harry Potter on an IMAX screen, and long walks (one of those was 75+ blocks) around Manhattan. They told their friends.
Ezra: I met this cute artist.
Lisa: I met this cute musician.
Fast forward to December 2009-January 2010. Lisa and Ezra spent New Year's Eve together with a passel of Smithies and a Brit who couldn't understand a word Ezra was saying. They had brunch. It felt like an important moment.
April 2010. Lisa and Ezra made it official. Their friends had already been using the words "girlfriend" and "boyfriend" to describe their relationship. Lisa and Ezra were a little slow on the uptake, but they figured it out eventually.
Skip six months to October 2010. On a weekend roadtrip to Northampton, MA, Lisa and Ezra decided that living together would be pretty swell.
It took them nearly a year, but in August 2011, Lisa and Ezra moved in! They declared August 15th to be henceforth known as House Day, during which it is customary to eat French Toast and watch tv in your pajamas. (We know, it sounds a lot like Sunday mornings, but still... traditions are important.)
After a year of domestic bliss, Ezra made a decision and emailed one of Lisa's friends in Massachusetts to began hatching a plan.
With the help of Jessica Usher (see Cast list), Ezra pulled off an epic proposal (see story below), and on October 28, 2013, Lisa and Ezra got engaged.
Cue jubilation.
I left for Massachusetts on a Wednesday to attend Jessica's birthday party on the 27th. With all of the preparation for the party, there would be little time to hang out and catch up, so she suggested that we spend Sunday after the party romping around Smith and Northampton. So, on the morning of the 28th, I said goodbye to two Smithie friends who’d driven out for the party (little did I know I would be seeing them later), and then Jessica, my sister, and I drove into Northampton. We parked by admissions and stood looking down across Paradise Pond.
(For those of you not familiar… it's stunning.)
It’s a familiar and comforting sight, but on that Sunday, there was something different. Red balloons dotted the landscape, and one such balloon was tied to the swing. Jessica was curious and suggested I find out what the balloons were for.
Shrug. Okay.
So, I trotted down the hill towards the swing, where a mother and a little girl were swinging. I asked them if they knew why the balloons were there. A scavenger hunt of sorts, they thought.
Hanging from the balloon was this Polaroid picture:
Pause… I know you’re going to read this next bit and think that I’m lying. But seriously, if you’ve ever been to Smith College and seen the chalkings for birthdays and the crazy crap my dear Smithie ladies do for one another, my next thought will not seem odd to you.
So my first thought – Aw, cute! It’s someone’s birthday, and her friends made her a scavenger hunt. And her name is my name. That’s adorable.
And I turned to head back up the hill towards Jessica and my sister. Jessica pointed towards another balloon, and, like a farmer shooing an errant chicken, she waved me away.
Shrug again. I guess she wants me to see what that one is. Okay.
So I trotted back down the hill towards one of the benches overlooking the pond. There was a second balloon tied to the bench, and on the bench lay a beautiful bouquet of flowers and this Polaroid:
I looked back up the hill. Jessica and my sister were gone. With audible clanking, the gears started spinning.
Wait a minute… I’m Lisa.
Dawning realization. It took a while, but I got it. The balloons were for me! I turned around and around a few times. Still no sign of J or my sister. There was nothing left but to do as the Polaroids instructed. So, with a Cheshire cat’s grin, I picked up the bouquet and set off after the trail of balloons.
The red balloons were tied all along the path down by the pond. They led past the Japanese Tea Hut, past the path to the Quad, around the pond and down to the Mill River. This is what it looked like:
I followed those balloons for quite a ways. I didn't know I was getting engaged... so I took my sweet time and a bunch of photos.
Finally, I rounded a bend and saw a big bunch of the balloons tied to a downed tree… and Ezra in a fedora and a suit jacket. And then I burst into tears. Not only were there balloons and flowers, but my dear boyfriend had made me a ballpit in the woods. Because we’re grownups.
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He helped me over the log that was serving as the edge of the ballpit, and then there were many wonderful words and a question and a black velvet box with his Nana’s ring inside.
Of course.
And there was much hugging and weeping (on my part) and laughing and grinning and dancing in the woods in our makeshift ballpit beneath a bunch of red balloons. Because the future is bright and filled with all kinds of plans, and we’re going to spend our lives together.
We may have sat there in the woods by the Mill River for twenty minutes or an hour or six… it was a moment outside of time. But eventually, we packed up our ballpit, tied our balloons on tightly, and made our way back along the path. Actually that's not true... first we took a whole bunch of photos. HE HAD A POLAROID CAMERA!!!
As we went, we slowly untied all of Ezra’s three dozen balloons until we each had quite a handful.
When we finally arrived back at the swing above the pond, not only had my sister and Jessica reappeared, but my two other Smithies (I told you they’d be back) were also waiting with champagne and glittery confetti and hugs and congratulations.
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And that’s pretty much the end of the engagement part of the story. After that, we were stranded in Massachusetts for four days during Sandy, but the storm did it’s absolute best to completely miss most of Western Mass. We made the most of it and had ourselves an excellent little half-week away outside of time.
