Welcome to day 4 of The Thankful Project. Today's prompt is: An Experience. To learn more about The Thankful Project, find the list of prompts and join in the fun, click {here}.
I'm linking up with Kenzie at Chasing Happy for this post.
Maybe this is more of a place than a memory, but it's the memories that I have at this place that I am so thankful for.
The Ice Rink at Rockefeller Center in New York City.
This had always been a place that held magic for me. Maybe it was the association with Christmas, but still. I dreamed of one day ice skating at this rink. Now, I'm no professional skater or anything like that, but I do love to ice skate. As I would day dream about someday getting married and going on a honeymoon, the ice rink would always be part of these dreams.
I wanted to go to New York City for my honeymoon someday.
I wanted to see the beautiful Christmas tree all lit up in Rockefeller Center and skate at the ice rink hand in hand with my love. I also wanted to get all dressed up and go to the New York City Ballet and see The Nutcracker. To some extent, I guess I figured the only way I would probably ever get to do something like this would be to go there for my honeymoon. So that was the plan.
Then I met Jim.
Jim grew up in Upstate New York. He invited me home with him to meet his family the Thanksgiving after we started dating. And guess what!?! Since we would be fairly close to New York City he suggested we take a trip there during our visit to New York. I was beyond thrilled, especially when he said we would even be able to go ice skating at Rockefeller Center!!! I still remember standing in his kitchen {now our kitchen} making dinner as he googled things for us to do in New York City and found out that the ice rink would be open when we would be there!!
Little did I know, getting to visit the ice rink and go skating would be just the tip of the ice berg!
Jim and I had been talking about getting married. We knew that we were each "the one" and that God was leading us towards marriage. But I was fully under the impression that Jim was planning to propose at Christmas {2011}. So as we were ice skating and they asked the skaters to clear the ice, I was not even on to what was going on when they started to play our song.
That's right. Jim and I were skating all alone in the middle of the Rockefeller Center Ice Rink while they played "Wanted" by Hunter Hayes. When we finally made our way to the center of the ice rink {after several protests from me to leave the rink} it finally dawned on me what was happening...
Jim was proposing!!!!
It couldn't have been a more perfect proposal.
The Ultimate Proposal.
In fact it was actually filmed by The Ultimate Proposal and aired on Yahoo. So {with a few edits} we have the whole proposal on video! And following the proposal we also had a {rainy} horse drawn carriage ride through Central Park.
Oh. And The Ultimate Proposal flew our family and one of my best friends in to share the day with us!
If you are curious and want to see the video {click here}.
For even more of the story {click here}
Fast forward about a year {Christmas 2012}. Jim and I had been married for 4 months and were expecting a baby in May!
This year we would be spending Christmas in New York. Sooo once again we decided to take a little trip {Baby Moon} to reminisce about our engagement the year before. After we boarded the plane to New York, Jim handed me a card with some clues in it. It was a surprise! We were going to be getting an ultrasound done at Goldenview Ultrasound in New York City!
At first I was cautious and concerned. Was this place reputable and safe? Duh! My husband is a pro researcher, so of course he had found us a great place and gotten us a super good deal! Our medical ultrasound wasn't supposed to be until January 2nd, but we had wanted to know the sex of our baby for Christmas and we were going to get to find out!
That night, we went to our appointment. Our baby was a little shy at first and kept his legs crossed so we couldn't see the goods right away. But after a little jumping and shaking him around, he uncrossed his legs and voila!
But we didn't find out right then and there. No, no, no. We had to do something more exciting than that. Instead, we had the ultrasound tech write the sex on the back of a Rockefeller Center post card that we had brought with us and also asked her to include a picture that showed us the sex (as well as our millions of other amazing pictures). We then took the postcard and pictures in an envelope to the Ice Rink.
And there we stood, facing the rink where our lives had started an amazing journey together just over a year ago. Slowly, we pulled out the post card...
It's a BOY!!
We were having a baby boy!
Such a magical moment and a beautiful memory.
To read the full recap of our Gender Reveal and Baby Moon {click here}
I'm so thankful for these memories and especially for my husband going the extra mile to make these special memories for us. I can't wait to some day go back and skate as a family with our little boy, Christian James, and tell him all about our story and how we found out he would be a boy!
What memory are you thankful for?
