Jonah's Version Rhea's version
How I Hooked It Up
I first saw Rhea at work at St. Francis West when I was a travel nurse.
I was transferring my patient from the emergency room to the heart floor. I informed the
receiving nurse that I was on my way to transfer the patient, so I asked her for her name.
"Rhea," she replied. And of course being the person that I am, I took advantage of the
uncommon name by amusing myself. While going to the floor I sang to myself, "Dia-Rhea,
cha cha cha.Dia-Rhea, cha cha cha." As I entered the patient's room, I glanced to the
left and noticed this person wearing a Barney purple color scrub working intensively
at the nurses' station. I thought she was attractive, so I smiled at her as she greeted
my patient. My radiant smile went unnoticed. Fearing for another cold shoulder from this
person, I didn't even try to strike up a conversation. Nevertheless, I left the room
intrigued. I asked my peers who the person was, but no one knew whom I was talking about.
A couple weeks later, I went out with my friend, Jason Koroscil. We were going to meet
our co-worker, Estrella and a few of our other co-workers at Palominos Restaurant. As we
entered the place, Estrella and her friend stepped out of the elevator. Upon seeing her
friend, I exclaimed to Jason that Estrella's friend was the person I was inquiring about two
weeks ago. Jason responded, "Oh, that's Rhea. She's great. You should meet her.
You guys would click!" It only happens once in a lifetime, but Jason was actually right.
Rhea and I clicked immediately.
How I put the 'S' in Smooth
The next four years went by like a blur. And now that we're finally engaged it
be a perfect time to reflect on how it happened. It was June 30, 2004. We just
finished watching Spiderman 2 and I took her to Brew Moon Restaurant for dinner. I wanted
to propose to Rhea at Brew Moon because this was the place where we had our first date.
Plus, I had a coupon for buy one dinner plate and get the second plate free . must be equal
or lesser value than the first plate. I didn't know, but there was a big event going
on that night at Brew Moon, so there were a lot of people. I thought to myself,
"This shouldn't be too bad. At least we can have privacy once we sit down." Knowing my
luck, we were seated right next to the waiting area. The waiting patrons can
literally stick their arm out and touch our food. Did I mention that there were a lot
of people at the restaurant? So I kept the ring in my pocket and decided to propose after
dinner. As we walked to the car after we ate, I thought this would be a perfect time.
I asked to see the promise ring that I bought for her at the beginning of our
relationship. I pretended I was cleaning her ring while trying to exchange it for
the engagement ring in my pocket. People that know me know that I have a goofy walk,
so picture me walking while trying to exchange the two rings in my pocket. I was
fumbling the rings so much that I couldn't distinguish between the two. I tried to
delay getting to the car so I could get the ring out, but Rhea was walking too fast.
Upon entering the car, I luckily got the correct ring out. This was it. This was
my time. I was seated on the driver side of the car and Rhea on the passenger.
I reached for her hand and placed the engagement ring on her ring finger. I was
ready to say, "Will you marry me" but no sound came out of my mouth. My nerves made
my throat so dry that I couldn't talk. Luckily for me, Rhea immediately gave me
a big hug and the squeeze from her hug helped vacate the air from my lungs and I
was finally able to say what I worked so hard on for months. "Will you marry me."
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