In 2005, Claire transferred from the Singapore UBS office to the Stamford office. She and Mike had worked in the same area for some time, but never really worked with each other. [with the exception of the one time he had to send her an email for something work related, where he misspelled her name]

On her first day in the Stamford office, she went looking for Mike's boss, whom she regularly interacted with on the phone and via email. She didn't really know where to find her so she wandered around the office and asked someone, who directed her toward's Mike's boss's desk. The guy who provided the directions happened to be a buddy of Mike's, so he sent him an instant message:

Just as Mike saw the instant message pop up on his screen, his eyes were drawn up as Claire walked towards his desk. She passed his cubicle and noticed his boss wasn't around and started to walk away when she recognized Mike's name on his cubicle wall. Up until this point, she had pictured Mike as a middle aged man with a family and kids, she did not expect to find such a fine, young, dashing man. She introduced herself and they chatted a bit.

They finished exchanging pleasantries and Claire went about her business and walked away. Mike returned to his computer and replied back to his friend's message with a single word:

That first meeting began their friendship which eventually blossomed into the happy couple who have been inseparable ever since.

The proposal took place on a quiet Saturday afternoon. It began quite typically, we went to brunch at one of our favorite spots in the city. It was a unseasonably nice day, but while eating, we saw some snow flurries come down. After finishing our meal, we visited a department store to buy some things for our apartment.

Claire had some suspicions that I might be proposing soon. Our 5 year anniversary was coming up in two weeks and Valentine's day was two days away--to her, those occasions seemed like opportune times to pop the question... surely it couldn't be this unassuming Saturday.

After leaving the department store, I suggested to Claire we go watch the dogs at the Union Square dog run. We both absolutely love dogs and the dog run is a special place for Claire. It is the one place that can always cheer her up and put her in a good mood.

As Claire leaned on the fence of the park looking at the dogs running about, I got down behind her on one knee. When she turned around, our furry little friends witnessed as I asked her to marry me. At first, Claire was so surprised she just stared at me, a moment later, after the shock passed, she said yes.