Our mailman is psychic!

As I was leaving our condo, I happened to see the mailman. I knew I'd seen this guy a couple times before, but we'd never said more than "hello" to each other. The gorgeous spring weather contributed to my good mood, so I went way beyond the customary "hello" and asked, "How are you?" (Deep, I know.) We both agreed that we were in good condition. His next question, however, blew me away.

"How's...uh...Tom?"

What?! How does he know my boyfriend's fiance's name?! Yes, he delivers our mail, but our mailbox isn't by our condo. It's a communal mailbox on the other side of the road--just one tiny cubby among many other cubbies. Our condo faces the woods so there's no way he could've seen me walking from our door to the parking lot (thus seeing our address and mentally connecting our names to my face).

I'm dumbfounded. Our mailman must be psychic!

The man's definitely getting a Christmas card this year.

Princess, Paradise, and Proposal!

For two weeks this past April, I experienced non-stop princess treatment. First, Tommy and I went on a Princess cruise to Princess Cays, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Grand Turk. The ship was gorgeous, the food was decadent, the service was excellent, and the islands were stunning! Here are some pictures from our week in Paradise:

 

Professional Pictures: Part of the Princess Treatment (above)

Stunning St. Thomas

my new ass of a friend

a view of Magens Bay from a hilltop

Magens Bay beach

I'm stronger than I look.

Tommy's really strong.

On Wednesday, April 20th we docked in St. Maarten. The first thing I noticed once we stepped off the ship was a store called Diamonds International. (They have countless stores throughout the Caribbean.) I asked Tommy if we could go inside and look around. I figured I'd show him the type of engagement ring I like. This is something we'd done before. After looking at every single ring in the store--and trying on about a dozen--I finally found a ring a loved! That's when Tommy bought the ring. They sized the ring as he completed the paperwork. Meanwhile, a thousand thoughts were running through my mind. "What does this mean? Does this mean we're engaged? Because he didn't ask me... Is he going to pocket the ring, take it home, and propose a few months down the line? That'd be weird." Once they sized the ring, they brought it back out and handed it to Tommy. He looked into me eyes and asked me to marry him. Of course, I said yes!

Tommy excitedly told me that he had to tell his dad.

"He knew about this?!" I asked.

"No! I didn't even know," he revealed. We had a good laugh.

We were so excited to share the news with everyone, but we couldn't just pick up our cell phones and dial our families. (Not for the fortune we'd be charged every minute!) Instead, I took a picture of the gorgeous ring on my hand and sent the image to our parents.  My dad and Tommy's parents replied immediately. We could sense the elation through their text messaged replies!

My mom still hadn't replied by the time we went on our scheduled tour of the island. Before starting up the bus, he walked up and down the narrow aisle and announced in a charming accent, "I want you to know that you are in the presence of a movie star! I am RRRaphael!" He rolled the R in his name like a drum. He showed us around the gorgeous island and gave us a timely tip before dropping us off to enjoy some shopping in the French capital of Marigot. A store there allowed each visitor a free 2 minute phone call to the US!

I immediately called my mom's workplace to see if she'd received our picture message. I greeted the person who answered the phone and asked to speak to my mother. "Congratulations, Panthea! Your mom called us and told us the news! She picked up a cake and she's bringing it here to celebrate." Holy cow, good news spreads quickly! After confirming that our immediately family knew,  I posted the news on Facebook and got tons of happy responses. (Technology! How bizarre.)

I took at least a half dozen pictures of my bejeweled hand.
"Look how gorgeous it is with the mountains in the background!
Look at it with the ocean in the background!
Look how pretty it is with the beach in the background!"

For the rest of the trip, we went into every Diamonds International store we came across, just to make sure there was nothing I liked more. At our last port of call, Grand Turk, Tommy found a ring that he fell in love with. It had a massive center stone--not my taste at all! He must've made me try on that ring ten times. He tried everything to get me to like that ring. "Look how it sparkles in the sun," he said to me. The saleswomen didn't know what to do. "Sell her the ring!" he begged them. Nothing could've made me trade in my beautiful, petite ring for that mammoth monster of a stone. Tommy finally relented, but for the rest of the day he kept telling me how heartbroken he was that I didn't let him get that ring.

Our ship returned to Florida on Easter Sunday. We had planned to pick Tommy's grandmother up in Boca Raton and drive with her to Tommy's parents' home near Orlando. That morning, Tommy called Grandma to let her know we were back. He spoke to her for a few minutes. When he got off the phone, he said to me, "Everyone cares about you! Grandma said she couldn't wait to see you."

I half-jokingly told him to get used to it. "It's all downhill for you, baby!" The wedding is all about bride, I explained. People will buy me gifts and say they're for us. When we have children, it'll be all about Mommy and the baby. This idea was further reinforced once we arrived at his parents' house, where the princess treatment continued! Mom and his sister Lisa had decorated the entire house for us! The tables were decked with flowers and the walls were draped with banners congratulating us on our engagement. (Let's be honest, the flowers weren't for him...nor were the pink bunny decorations.) 

With just a few days' notice, they had even bought us me gifts! Mom and Lisa gave me beautiful Swarovski crystal figurines and a heart-shaped picture frame. (What do you think? Is it safe to conclude that these gifts were for me?)

After a beautiful vacation, we finally returned home to New York and quickly went back to our daily routine. My first day back to school was fun! As soon as I walked into class, friends and classmates started talking at once. "Panthea!" "There she is!" "She's here!" "Yay!" "Everyone's looking at your hand!" My 15 minutes seconds of fame were delightful.

It has been an incredible (and incredibly busy) few months! Tommy and I had a beautiful engagement party a few weeks ago. Our families and friends joined us. Two of my relatives from overseas even came to celebrate with us! My favorite cousin in the world, Assefeh, surprised me with a visit! She's like a sister to me so I was thrilled to see her. Tommy's dad gave a wonderful toast during dinner that still makes me tear up when I think about it. I'm a very lucky girl and I'm so thankful!

By the way, you may be interested in knowing the story behind how we fell in love. To make a long story short, let me just say that I knew from the beginning he was the one for me. You see, we both have only four toes on each foot.