Emily and the Marriott Marquis

Me, my beautiful mother and Lady Liberty.

Lately I've been spending some time writing the story of how Marquis and I met, fell in love, got married, and a few highlights after that, just a brief history for us and our girls to have. While most of it is too personal for me to share with the whole interwebz, I just love this little piece of the story, so here you go!

Not long after I started working for one of the big airlines, my mom told me that she was going to be going to New York that December with my aunt, grandma, and cousin. I have always wanted to see New York, especially at Christmastime, and so I begged to go too. My initial plan was to fly standby on the airline that I worked for and just meet them there, but before I knew it my awesome aunt had booked me a ticket with them using her frequent flier miles. Hooray! I was so beyond excited. 

The day of the flight Marquis drove me to the airport. We had only been dating a month at this point, but we had been spending pretty much every minute outside of our jobs together already. He brought CG to the airport and I introduced both of them to my mom and the crew. This was back in the days when anyone could go past security up to the gates, so he walked up with us to wait. As the time for our flight got closer and closer, I realized something strange. I didn't want to go! I had dreamed for so long of seeing New York at Christmastime, and here I was not wanting to go so I could spend time with a guy? What was wrong with me? When it came time to board, he kissed me rather thoroughly right there in front of my mom and everyone and off we went. 

When we got seated on the plane my aunt leaned over to me and asked, "So, how serious is it with this guy?" I wasn't quite sure what to say, so I just shrugged and said, "I don't know. But we've only been dating a month." She smiled in a way that made me wonder if she knew something I didn't, and looking back I'm pretty sure she did. I'm pretty sure it was plastered all over my face, I just hadn't admitted it to myself yet. As the plane taxied to the runway I watched the windows of the terminal, knowing that he and CG would be watching my plane outside of one of them. I missed him already.

When we got to New York, my aunt had arranged for a limo ride from the airport. There were enough of us that it would have taken two taxis to get us to the hotel, and for the same price we could get a limo. Look at us being all fancy! I was determined to not think about Marquis and just spend the week enjoying New York and my family.  And then we got to the hotel, and I realized I was doomed. 

We stepped out of the limo at the Marriott in Times Square. I looked down and saw a manhole cover, which normally would not even be worth mentioning, except that right there on the manhole cover it said, "Marriott Marquis."  I knew we were staying at a Marriott, but when I realized that the name of this particular Marriott happened to be the Marriott Marquis, I groaned inside. Did this mean that every time we walked out the front entrance I would see this manhole cover and his name? That would help at all with the not missing him thing. 

(A little side note, while the name of the hotel is the Marriott Marquis, of course pronounced Mar-key, my Marquis's name is actually pronounced Marcus. Which just means that I have a hard time not thinking of this hotel as the Marriott Marcus.)

It got worse, though. We got into the room, and his name was plastered everywhere. They had all the normal hotel flotsam with his name printed on every single item. I could use a pen with his name on it to write a note on a notepad that also had his name on it. I washed my hands with Marquis soap and shampooed my hair with Marquis shampoo. That whole week there he was every where I turned. And oh, how I missed him! My inner voice kept protesting, "But you've only been dating a month! A month!" But by the end of the week I knew what it meant. 

Despite missing him, the trip was amazing! My aunt has been to New York about a bazillion times and was the best tour guide ever. We even made a stop just for me at the New York Coca-Cola store. 

(That is my aunt in the sunglasses smiling behind me in the window.)

We saw the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. Here are my mom and me before the show. 

And we did all the other things that I have always wanted to do. We saw the big tree at Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, we stood on top of the World Trade Center and the Empire State Building, we saw not one but two Broadway plays, and I could go on and on. I am so glad that I went, and so glad that no one seemed to mind me inviting myself on their trip. This is still one of my favorite trips I've ever taken.

When we got back to the airport, Marquis was there waiting for me with a single rose. When he wrapped me in his arms and said how much he missed me, I told him how cruel it was of him to call the hotel and ask them to plaster his name everywhere so I would miss him so badly. What I didn't tell him is that during the week I had figured it out. I had fallen in love with  him, but he was going to have to wait to hear me say it.