YES to Orange Blossoms, Processions, and Love

It's amazing how quickly your life can change. In the blink of an eye, I went from preparing for a cross-country move, scouting for rentals in Salem, Massachusetts, looking for jobs in Boston, and anticipating a New England summer to searching for popular wedding sites in Las Vegas, picking bridesmaid dresses, researching exotic honeymoon destinations, and top legal jobs in the San Francisco area.

You could say I was thrown a surprising curve ball during my Semana Santa vacation in Sevilla. The surprise, however, struck a impressive home run and now my future is sailing out of the park! My life just scored a BIG hit!

Let me explain-

As you may have noticed from my previous post, my best friend Ryan came out to visit me at the beginning of April. After meeting him at the airport, we checked into our hotel, and then set out on foot to explore Madrid. He was amazed at all of the sites. He took loads of cheesy pictures, ate tons of tapas and even had some record size blisters from his first day in Spain! He knows I love to walk and I did remind him to bring some good walking shoes! In any event, it was a wonderful day full of fun.

The next day, we had to wake up very early to get a 7 am train to Sevilla. It was the AVE speed train and it only took us two hours. It was a very scenic ride and seemed to just fly by. I couldn't wait to drop off our bags so we could explore. The weatherman was calling for a weekend in the mid- 70s, I couldn't have been happier. But Lord knows, the lovely weather was only the beginning.

After we dropped off our belongings at our awesome hotel Doña Carmela ( I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT), we took the hotel shuttle to downtown Sevilla. Sevilla was painstakingly beautiful. I couldn't stop saying WOW and looking like a total tourist snapping 3.5 pictures a second. Everywhere we went it smelled of jasmine and orange blossoms. It was bliss. While there were a few major modern streets, most of the roadways were quaint and narrow with little pedestrian walkways. We walked around the squares, checked out a castle, a few churches, and every other little thing that caught our eye. While we walked around aimlessly, the city was preparing for their major Semana Santa festival. There were many wooden chairs lining the streets, with men and woman walking around in traditional religious wear. The next day, Good Friday, there was going to be a major procession, we made a point not to miss it. Sevilla is also full of many large beautiful gardens. In addition to watching the different processions, Ryan and I promised to picnic in one of the gardens the next day. Little did I know, that this little "picnic" would change my life!

We woke up bright and early catching a scrumptious breakfast of hard boiled eggs, pastries, fruit, cereal, and juices. We were planning on taking a few bites for our picnic, but noticed a sign on the wall that said we could be charged for taking the food outside of the dining hall. Dang it, they read our minds. We decided to fill up instead and just have a snack in the park to save money. We had learned the day before, after receiving a tear-jerking bill, that food in Sevilla can be quite expensive.

We set sail for the gardens, Maria Luisa to be exact. We walked for an hour or two through many of the pathways, taking pictures of flowers, fountains, sculptures, and other pieces of art that caught our eyes. We even stumbled upon a family singing in the park playing the guitar. People crowded around them dancing. It was a cool scene. After it reached about 80 degrees, we were dying of thirst and were lucky to find a little ice cream stand under a shady grove. We bought a slurpee type drink and a cup of chocolate ice cream to enjoy on our picnic in the hot sun.

We walked around for a little bit trying to find the perfect spot to lay out in the sun. We found a great open spot with tons of sunlight surrounded by blossoming flowers and beautiful orange trees. The air smelled sweet with orange blossoms. Soon after we sat down, a young guy sat near us and started playing the flute. It was surreal. Ryan wrote a great story once he got home that explains in detail not only our afternoon in the park, but his whole big PLAN!

"The park belonged to the Palace of San Telmo. It was donated to city by the Duchess of Montpensier, the Princess Maria Luisa Fernanda de Orleans on June 19th 1893 and landscaped in 1929 for The Worlds Fair. Located in the middle of Seville, Spain (The City that Hercules Built and the capitol of Andalusia), Maria Luisa Park is one of the most beautiful parks in all of Europe. The park hosts many species of plants and trees including the cities famous orange trees with their blossoms that smell amazingly strong and very delightful. With many unique statues, fountains, lawns, gardens and walking paths, I knew this was the perfect place to ask Brandi to marry me. Brandi recently graduated from College with her Bachelor degree and wanted to reward herself with a trip. She decided to travel to Europe through a program involving her moving to Madrid, Spain for a few months teaching English. After completion of this program Brandi will receive a certificate signed by President Obama for volunteering her time. A few months before Brandi was to leave for Spain, she informed me she was moving closer to her mother in Boston, Ma after Spain. I did what was in my heart and let her go as we separated. As much as it hurt me and as much as I couldnt sleep I knew better days were ahead. Brandi moved away to Spain and she was gone. My heart, soul and mind was telling me that I could not live without Brandi and at that point I knew it was time to ask her to marry me. After a few weeks of Brandi living in Spain we decided I should come visit her in Madrid. We started looking for flights and hotels and ultimately picked Easter week for me to visit, which was Holy Week or Semana Santa in Southern Spain. Kerry my business partner and friend helped me find Bluenile.com which is where I found the most beautiful diamond ring. I only had a few days from the time I ordered the ring to the time I was leaving for Spain. As you can imagine I was on pins and needles waiting for it. Sure enough the ring was delivered on a Saturday before 12 pm and it was perfect. I flew to Madrid from San Francisco and we took the high speed rail to Seville. On Good Friday in Maria Luisa Park we had the most amazing picnic with the sounds of someone playing the flute and birds chirping. I presented her with a scrapbook filled with pages of pictures, notes, ticket stubs and various things from our relationship over the past several years. I then got on my knee and asked Brandi to marry me and she said YES! "

It was very romantic and Ryan couldn't have planned it any better. After the proposal, we took a horse and carriage ride through the city smiling and waving at the people we past, acting like we were the King and Queen of Spain. What made the day even more great was when we found a prime viewing area for watching the processions. The processions were profound and very emotional. It was a once in a lifetime experience. We could not have a gone at a better time.

The day following the proposal I was walking on air, or I should say we were both walking on air. We floated down to the bus station and took a two hour bus ride to the coastal city of Cadiz. The city's street plan consists largely of narrow winding alleys connecting large plazas which I think many of you can finally grasp that I LOVE! The city is speckled with numerous parks where exotic plants, including giant trees supposedly brought to Spain by Christopher Columbus, flourish. It was close to 83 degrees in Cadiz when we were there, we were in heaven. We mainly walked around town taking pictures here and there then checked out the beach. Like many beaches in Europe, many of the women were topless. Ryan got a kick out of that! That's for sure! After we visited the beach, we headed back to the old town and settled in for the local procession. It was very nice and quaint, we were able to stand really close and capture some awesome photos. I promise to post soon. We definitely had our share of sun that day. Ryan earned raccoon eyes, and my nose and chest turned a nice shade of magenta. We were exhausted, yet happy to settle in for a siesta on the bus ride back to Sevilla.

Semana Santa was the best trip ever! I will always remember the orange blossoms, the one of a kind processions, and the day I chose to spend the rest of my life with my wonderful friend and partner, Ryan Viale-Gertler.