SHE SAID "YES!!!!"

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Today, Sunday April 6th 2008 at 10:30am Pranvera Recica said she would be my wife!!!! After only knowing each other for 9 months, there was never any doubt in either of our minds that after 37 years of looking for 'the one', we finally found each other (and who would have ever thought in Kosovo). I can't even begin to describe the feeling of knowing I will be able to spend the rest of your life with my best friend and to be so warmly accepted into such a large family (which I never had). True to Albanian tradition, when you marry here, you don't just marry your partner but the entire family. And this is why I decided to do the propose as I did.

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In preparing for the big day I had to secretly plan meetings with both her brothers to ask for their support in marrying their younger sister and for them to help me approach her father asking for his daughter's hand. Of course all of this went smoothly but I felt it was important to respect local customs and have the entire family in on the surprise. Since Pranvera and I have certainly talked about marriage I wanted this to be as much of a special day as possible. And instead of taking her away for a special romantic weekend somewhere I wanted the place to very special for the both of us and accessible by her family and friends. So I decided to propose in the very place we first kissed, which happened to be on a very late night walk in the middle of Pristina's only 'open space'. But as you can see from the pictures, this area has nothing but green weeds, rocky ground and scattered trash. Not exactly the best place to be romantic.

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So, I decided to build a garden along the walkway to surprise her and offer some color and beauty back to the place that I will forever hold dear to my heart. But in order to pull all the planning off I need the help of Laura, her great sister-in-law. So the day before on a cold gray rainy morning we went to visit the nursery out of the city and look over the limited plant selection they have since it is still 2 weeks really before planting season. None the less I was able to find 50 beautiful flowers (minus the sunflowers I wanted since they are her favorite) and we returned back to the city so I could show the landscapers where to install the garden. Minus the unforeseen truckload of dirt and labor I needed to hire, everything was set for Sunday. The trick was they needed to come back the same morning I proposed to her so that nobody would steal or damage the flowers before we got there. Thanks to the watchful eye of Laura, the garden was beautifully built and waited for our arrival.

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The second part of the equation was making sure Pranvera's mom, brothers, their wives and kids and her close friends were also there to come out and celebrate (if) she said yes. My close friend Molly and a cameraman I hired were also hiding behind the library pillars to run out once I got up off my knee.
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She never knew what hit her. Nor did I. I had told her we were meeting a business associate of mine for brunch across town which required us to cross our special place. It also helped encourage the both of us to dress up a bit for this unusual early morning Sunday stroll (thanks Roman). As we got close to the park I sent a final text for all to hide and we walked up to our path. Despite the fact that there were all these beautiful flowers there now and nowhere else in the entire area, it did not seem to phase Pranvera too much. Till I finally started to comment about how nice they looked and the irony that they happened to be in our special place. Still needing a bit more help I said that I had had them placed right here. And she said 'How did I know the Mayor to do this???'

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Without waiting for more explanation I started to fumble through my prepared romantic words but unfortunately was getting almost too choked up to get the words out. Before dropping to my knee she asked if we were on candid camera? NO, but we are on your families cameras and I as I opened the ring box, I proposed in Albanian. Her shock and flood of tears not only muffled her reply of YES (which I had to confirm later) but I also completely forgot to take the ring out of the box and put it on her!!! She had just accepted the ring in box which happened to be a special solid Jade stone ring I had picked up on my travels. Ironically the box was harder to find than the ring. I wanted the traditional black velvet ring box which does not exist in Kosovo. So after much searching and borrowing back a similar plain black necklace box I had given to her earlier, I happened to find a velvet box in my safe box that I have had for at least 15 years.
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So after rising to my feet and embracing each other, I issued the signal cheer for the entire family to come out from hiding and celebrate with us. I can say without doubt the happiest moment in my life. For my family and dear friends around the world that I wish so much could be here right now to celebrate this special time, I will be posting the video later this week and when we finally arrive stateside expect to receive an invite for a wedding celebration so you may meet my 'better half'. Much love to everyone!!!!

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