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Eyad had survived
2 and a half years of residency. Most
nurses were nice. But one nurse… well,
she was nice AND made her own Snoopy scrubs!
We met in October,
2002 during Eyad’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) rotation. Emily moved to
Eyad offered to
stay late one day (November 11, 2002) to take a patient to MRI (we all know it
was just to get the girl!). Emily
happened to be the nurse. We finally had
a chance to talk (don’t worry, the patient was not neglected).
“I like your
Snoopy scrubs,” Eyad said (what a line!).
“I made them myself,”
Emily replied (the flirt!).
“Hmm,” Eyad
thought, “she’s kinda cool. Maybe I
should get to know her better.”
“Huh,” The Flirt
(heehee) mused, “what a nice guy.
There’s NO way he could be single.”
Yada yada yada, 5 months
later when Eyad was no longer sure her name was Emily, he asked her out.
Just kidding. Eyad kept going (out of his way) to use the PICU’s X-ray monitor but never got to
talk with Emily alone. It wasn’t looking
good. Four months later Eyad took a
vacation (4 cities in 3 states). He told
his mom, Marianne
and Greg, Matt and
Alex, Grace
and Vince, and Ali about this woman (in addition to other people who
already knew about her). Remember, not
100% sure of the name anymore!
He realized how
lame he was and resolved to ask her out.
He stopped by the PICU just before shift change on his first day back
(like April 7th about
“Eyad!” Someone called. He turned and saw Bonita. It almost looked like she ran around the corner with
someone else.
Did we tell you
about Bonita? She thought we were a
perfect match from the start and was whispering in Emily’s ear over the
previous 5 months.
He walked up to
Bonita and noticed the woman with her was…? darn, he wished he were sure of her
name!!
“Hi, Emily.” It was a gutsy move. It could spell disaster if he was wrong and
of course the name on her badge wasn’t visible.
But Eyad always laughed in the face of danger (well, at least as a punk
teenager).
“Hi,” the woman he
prayed was Emily smiled back. SCORE!!
Bonita set the
stage perfectly, praising Eyad for 30 seconds then leaving them alone. He thought, “Oh, my God! Bonita is awesome! How lucky can I be?”
Luck? When the gears in his head started turning
and he asked some questions he found out:
Even
though she was working, the assignment board wasn’t updated yet so Emily’s name
wasn’t up there.
Bonita
and Emily had just been talking about Eyad.
Bonita
saw Eyad, grabbed Emily and ran around the corner with her to catch him.
Bonita
set the stage perfectly...
And (can you
believe it?) he was smooth. After a
minute of lame small talk he thought,
“If I don’t do this now it’ll never happen.”
“Y’know, I like
visiting the people down here… but I actually came looking for you.” He held his breath.
“Oh?” Emily
smiled. YESSSS!!
“I was wondering
if you’d like to… hang out
sometime.” Doh! He choked, but…
“Sure! I’d love to.”
She was giddy inside.
He started to
ramble then reigned himself in. He
remembered advice Michael
gave him and set a time for a date, gave her 3 ways of reaching him and got her
number. Four days later…
Eyad (on the
advice of Beth)
drove from work to pick up Emily (about 20 minutes). We drove back to Café Saigon (2 blocks from
work!) where Emily learned to use chopsticks.
After desert at Kaldi’s (a coffee house) we walked around the
neighborhood. It was chilly but Eyad
brought an extra jacket (Mike’s
idea we 
think).
We walked for
hours, discovered Eyad is afraid of injured birds and Emily can tell a Dove
from a Pigeon. Then we came upon The
Bench. We sat on it for a couple hours,
talking, enjoying the flowers and company.
It was the favorite part of the date for both of us. Eyad thought, “If this works out, I’m going
to ask her to marry me on this bench.”
About
Several months
later, helplessly smitten, Eyad planned a proposal. He wanted to surprise Emily. He had the engagement ring his mom wore three
decades ago. Michael
visited and he and Emily got along spectacularly. He saw The Bench. “What if my mom’s ring is too
small,” worried Eyad. “Get her an
adjustable backup ring,” the brilliant Michael
offered.
Eyad watched the
ten day forecast to find a good day for an outdoor proposal. On President’s Day he drove four hours to
Eyad stepped
outside and said, out loud, “Thank you, Lord for a beautiful day.” But, God knew if everything went perfectly it
wouldn’t make a good story…
Eyad parked a
couple blocks away from The Bench… next to dog doo! Emily barely
missed stepping in it.
As we walked
towards The Bench, Eyad asked “Do you want to sit on Our Bench?”
“Well, let’s see
if there’s ice on it,” said Emily.
ICE!? Aww, The Bench is on
the shady side of the street and could still be covered in ice! Eyad wondered if he’d be coming back that
night to clear ice for another try the next day.
But, as they
approached, ice was the least of his worries.
Something big and bright green was directly across from The Bench. A
dumpster?!
And not 30 yards
down the street, a sewer maintenance crew… guys in hard hats.
As we sat on The
Bench (the ice was just on the ground where Eyad would kneel) Eyad waited for
the sewage guys to disappear. Some guy
he’d never seen walked right up to us, turned and went into the house.
“What else could
go wrong,” thought Eyad.
Then it all came
together. Somia
(Eyad’s “cousin”) told him he wouldn’t remember what was said. All we remember is Emily saying:
“I hate to imagine
my life without you. So, I don’t.”
“Be careful what
you wish for...” (nice segue Eyad)
Emily paused and cocked her head…
“What?”
Eyad kneeled down
(having discretely kicked bits of ice out of the way). Emily cried.
She said yes. The ring fit
perfectly.
Eyad later gave Emily the backup adjustable