Eamon & Charly Engagement Central Park NY from SON Studios on Vimeo.

Las Vegas is home — always will be. However, a piece of my heart and soul lives in New York. I traveled to Manhattan alone as an 18 year old, to set up what became a large internet watch company — a company that set the stage for many business successes and relationships in my life. I’m a 3rd generation, die hard Yankees fan. Every year I travel to Manhattan, the most romantic city in the United States. Yankees Stadium, Central Park, dirty water dogs, slices of pizza, premium restaurants, shopping and nightlife. All of the aforementioned are reasons to lend New York a piece of my heart, and attention. 

A year ago, I took Charly to one of the sexiest brunches in the entire country at The Boathouse, in Central Park. We ate, we drank, and we were merry. We wanted to go out on the lake, and row the boats. Thunderstorms ruined the plan. We sadly walked past the boats, underneath a park purchased umbrella and said to ourselves, “next time, we have to do it.” A promise I intended to keep. ’Twas that moment, that my mind was sparked with creativity & intrigue, and my heart was warmed. I knew “next year” was the year I wanted to propose marriage to my best friend, walking under that umbrella with me.  I knew… I absolutely and wholeheartedly knew that on that lake, in that row boat, I wanted to present Charly with an amazing ring, while I grabbed her hand, looked into her watery eyes with tear stained cheeks, and ask her to spend the rest of her life with me.  The last year has been spent thinking, plotting, planning — and best of all, layering in a labyrinth of misdirections and little white lies, so that the stage – and surprise – was appropriately set. 

One thing you all must know about Charly, you CAN’T SURPRISE HER. With any sense that something may, or may not be up, she questions, and questions again, and always needs to know everything — always. To surprise Charly, one needs to pull off a magic trick that would leave Siegfried & Roy speechless. That’s just who she is, so my plan had to incorporate several “inception like” layers of storyline, mistruths, and “look over here” while I make 3 surprise moves over there. 

Through our courtship, I promised Charly three things. 1- I wouldn’t propose in a restaurant. 2- I wouldn’t propose in a sports stadium — not even Yankee stadium. 3- she asked me to use my creativity to have my daughter Shelby, and my son Colten be part of the proposal somehow, and in someway. 

Sneaking the kids into New York, behind our back was the most important layer of The Proposal. But how? A 14yr old, and an 11 year old just cant grab a plane. This required help. I needed a team. I called upon my 16yr right hand gal at my insurance firm Tera Safdeye, and my STITCHED VP’s Sam Glaser, and Ricci Lopez. With the right team on board, it was time to architect greatness. Tera’s top task was to provide care to our 5 month old baby French Bull Dog. Without loving care in place, Charly never would have agreed to a frivolous trip to NY. Sam and Ricci agreed to assist with logistics, getting the kids safely to NY, lining up our boathouse staff lies, and ensuring the boats were prepared for what we needed to do. 

Months ago, Charly and I had a desired wedding date and location set. Ashford Castle in Ireland, on 7-7-2020. I’m a huge Mickey Mantle fan. My favorite number is 7. To be married on 7-7 was perfect. And, 2020 is a popular phrase most people use to wish they had done things different, and corrected a mistake. “Hindsight is 20/20. Had I known then what I know now, I would done things different.” 2020 is the perfect year, to define where I’m at in my life. 

Having a wedding date set, put pressure on The Proposal. I mean, how do you plan, bachelorette party, invite, etc when you’re not even engaged. I promised Charly she would have a year to be a fiancée, so the clock was ticking, and ticking loudly.  7-7-19 is just around the corner. Every trip we went on, every special night out, every time I did anything out of my normal routine, the surprise-spoiling Charly was suspicious —  is this the moment he asks? 

Planets aligning, or gifts from god, I’ll let you be the judge — but things starting appearing, and making the perfect plan known, and executable. Mind you, it’s the first week in May, and I had nothing on the books to get this surprise under way. I knew the macro level plan, just nothing “real” presented itself, until I received a calendar book from my ex, showing when we each had the kids over the summer. The week after they got out of school (last week in May,) the calendar said “Mom moving to Utah.” AH HA! Just the break I needed. 

Lie #1, “the kids are going to Utah with their mother to help her move and set up their bedrooms.” Well damn, what do Charly and I do with our free week? I asked her for ideas, and let her offer a few — from beaches to cabins, she had some great ones. A day later, I pointed out that the Yankees were playing the Red Sox in New York, the greatest rivalry in sports history, and a match up she was dying to see in person.  I do business with the Yankees, including the creation of their esteemed Monument Park Blazer — reserved for only the Yankees who had their numbers retired, and enshrined in Monument Park at the stadium. 

I worked with the Yankees front office to help me with lie #2. I wrote an entire multi-part script that they would copy and paste back to me, so I could show Charly an organic looking text thread where the Yankees demanded our presence for game 1 of Yanks vs Sox at Yankee stadium. A game where the owners, President and GM were going to attend, and they wanted to meet the guy who made all of their sacred monument park blazers, to say Thank You. Charly saw the texts, and quickly said “the kids are in Utah, we have to go. You have to go meet the Steinbrenners. When will you ever get to meet the owners of the Yankees again? This is exciting” 

Lie #3: I wanted her to feel like a princess, and stay at the historic The Plaza Hotel, right at the front door step of Central Park. To book a room at The Plaza, for no reason, would have been out of character for me — we would rather spend the extra thousands $ on activities, and fun in the city. The Yankees played along, and text me that they had partner rates at a list of great hotels, Plaza included. I waited a few days, and then hit Charly with the proper cellphone call, “holy shit, the Yankees rate is 25% off, and they are throwing in the 4th night free. WE HAVE TO GO!!!” In the meantime and real life, the Yanks are insistent that after the proposal I bring my secret team to the game, do an exclusive tour of the stadium, their museum and white glove items from the vault. Maybe we’ll meet the owners, but we will definitely have our congratulations on the huge scoreboard. 

Lie #4. I had to create a fake trip to throw her off the scent. Just in case. Somewhat of an insurance policy, if you will. Yep, this is what it’s like to surprise Charly — your plan better have layers to it, with a dream team of actors. Charly’s birthday is July 14th. Right around a year away from the wedding date of 7-7.  I spent a week getting her and the kids excited for our first trip together to Disney world. I was being over the top with my requests for her to look at the rides and tell me which were her favorite. I contacted the GM of Four Seasons (with her on the emails) here in Vegas, and asked for help booking the Four Season’s Disney world luxury property. Charly said that we didn’t need to stay at Four Seasons because we would be at the theme parks all day. I demanded that this trip is special, and luxurious. She stopped asking too many questions which lead me to believe, she felt Disney world, for her birthday, 1 year away from the wedding, WITH THE KIDS THERE, was the proposal. After the real proposal, she confessed, she thought I was asking for her hand in marriage with the kids at Disney world. SUCCESS!

The Plaza booked. Plane tickets booked. Tera is taking our puppy. Sam and Ricci are poised to grab my children and get them safely to NYC, just down the road from us in alternate hotel accommodations. I was thinking that having Ricci, the social media addict, Sam, and two kids there, we had enough cell phone activity to capture the moment. But then, out of nowhere, long time friend and legendary Vegas photographer Shane O’Neal reaches out to me — because Beauty & Essex at Cosmopolitan could not accommodate him that night on his birthday. Sold out. Shane asked if I could juice him into a nice birthday table, and in quick order, I did. A lightning bolt hit my brain in those birthday hook up moments — “Shane, what are you and your wife Deed doing on the 29th and 30th of May? And, can you be in New York?” To my pleasure he said, “actually, we’re strangely open that week until Saturday, what’s in New York? We’re down…” I told him the plan, to propose on the lake in central park, in the row boats,  in front of the big fountain. His response keeps the planets aligning. “Are you f*cking with me?” I wasn’t sure what he meant, but he continued to think it was a joke. When I said it was real, and I’d love for him to capture it, he confessed to me that almost to the day, three years earlier, he proposed to his wife, in the boats at the boat house. The hair on my neck went up. Coincidence? I think not. Now I’ve added in more layers of complexity to have Shane on camera, and Deed on video, in New York to capture it all. Who better, than a genius photographer, who knows the lay of the land, the angles, and the vantage point to spray his photographic greatness on. 

PROBLEM! A week out, and every day along this journey, the weather forecast on our iPhones showed thunderstorms the day before, the day of, and the day after the scheduled proposal. Damn! This had me on edge, the entire time. I prayed 3 times a day, everyday, that god would give this weather a break. We can’t miss another boat opportunity due to rain. Not for The Proposal.

All fears & stresses pushed aside, here we go…. Eamon and Charly on the 6am flight. Sam, Ricci, Shelby, Colt, Shane, and Deed on the 9:30 am flight. That night in Manhattan we were constantly on a secret group text to avoid each other. Charly and Eamon were bearing the nasty thunderstorms by Irish Bar hopping (we’re Irish.) The group was 1 block away enjoying an authentic Italian dinner, and enjoying play time at Hershey and M&M World at Time Square. 

Next morning — the day of: We wake up. Morning rain is coming down. I send Sam into the park to confirm the boats would still go? It was a maybe, depending on the weather. Charly and I get ready for a high class brunch at Boathouse, with the idea of heading to Yankee stadium after — this is how I got Charly “more dressed up” for a Yankees game, than normal. She has to be photogenic for her proposal, and not a backwards Yankees hat. Although that look is super hot on her. We’re ready, the entire crew is stationed at the park, and the hostess of Boathouse knows that when I walk in and ask for a window seat, the answer is “there’s an hour wait.” We will accept that wait, and head out on the boats. Details, details….

Leaving the Plaza, there wasn’t a drop of rain. I needed to take a horse and carriage ride to keep the vision alive, yet Charly was reluctant and wanted to walk. Rewinding time, 6 months ago, VEGAS Magazine featured me as a Modern Man in their magazine. Charly, who runs all of our media, wanted me to answer the 3 questions for the media piece. Question #1 was, “What would be your favorite day?” I answered that question with what would later prove to be The Proposal; the ideal Manhattan day: I would stay at The Plaza, take a horse and carriage ride to the boathouse in central park. I’d row the boats, like I was in a Disney movie. Later that evening, I would go to Yankees game and enjoy a beer and dog. I remember her being delighted with that answer, and saying she loved it, and how did I come up with that? Hahaha! I love this part of the story. I love that she heard the plan, and had no idea that was THE PLAN.

With the horse and carriage being part of the blue print, I couldn’t believe she reluctantly fought me on it. I didn’t want to tip her off and push too hard, so we walked. Less than half way to the Boathouse, god took the wheel again. An empty horse and carriage in the middle of the park (which is rare to have an empty walking through the park) pulled up to us, asking if we wanted to do a ride. I said, Charly this is sign. We have to do it, we’ve never done a carriage ride together. She said that I obviously wanted to do this, so let’s take the horse. Ahhh, the plan is in sync, and things are working to perfection…. We were dropped off in front the boathouse, and the carriage left. I was so nervous, I forgot to get a picture of us in it. DAMNIT!!! I told Charly we needed to jog and catch him to get a photo — she said, its not a big deal, and to just leave it. At that moment I looked up, and I’ll be damned, the sun started peeking through the clouds. Nobody was on the lake. I shouted to the boat operators “Yo, are the boats able to go out?” They said yes, come grab one. We did…..

We rowed out onto the lake, completely alone. I was a nervous wreck, but I kept it together. My life was about to change. This was the moment I planned for a year. It was all happening, just as I day dreamed it would. I fumbled with the boat for a bit — its harder than it looks. In short order, I was expertly navigating this boat around the lake, and towards the Fountain of Bethesda. I was telling Charly the story of the fountain — a story I stumbled upon as I was searching for photos to send Shane of where I wanted to do the kneeled down proposal. The Fountain of Bethesda is topped by the Angel of new beginnings, and healing waters. Lots of ties back to the book of John in the bible, where Jesus healed the sick, and created the sabbath. I couldn’t believe it perfectly aligned to a deeper meaning to my life. I couldn’t wait to have a new beginning with Charly, and those healing waters were definitely needed to heal my past. Originally I just wanted to propose in front of the Fountain Of Bethesda, because I thought it was cool. I knew it was the feature of the Disney movie Enchanted, and the row boats felt like a Disney love story. Charly and I love anything and everything Disney. I wanted her day to feel like a scene from Little Mermaid, where Ariel and Eric in the row boat listening to “Kiss The Girl.” 

We’re gliding into position, with Sam, Ricci, the kids hiding behind the huge fountain. Shane and Deed have assumed their positions to capture all the moments. Weather generally kept everybody off the lake but us. I gave Sam the signal (a long exaggerate stretch of my left arm — get in position on the edge of the water with the kids.) With Charly’s back turned to the Fountain of Bethesda, I notice a huge crowd congregating around Sam, Ricci and the kids. We were now the stars of the show. 

I took my knee in the boat, held her hand, and spoke for a minute or two. I reminded her how we both felt at Ashford Castle in Ireland, and how we just knew in our heads and hearts that we wanted to get married there. Then I told her about the row boat miss a year prior, and at that moment, I knew I wanted to propose marriage in this spot, a historic spot in a city where a piece of my soul lives. I gave her a baseball reference. “Charly, before I round third and touch home plate, I wanted you to know that I touched all three bases you asked me to touch. 1st, I’m not proposing in a restaurant. 2nd I’m not proposing at a sports stadium. But 3rd is tough, and I did it. With the kids in Utah, I wanted you to know that on Thanksgiving this past year, they stood with me at your parents cabin in Colorado after a long four-wheeler ride, and we asked your father for your hand in marriage together.” She was watery eyed at the moment, but tears streaked down her face when I told her about asking her father first. Back to the speech…. “Charly, you’re so impossible to surprise, it just can’t be done, buuuuut, I think I may have just pulled off a miracle and can really make my ask magical. Look over your left shoulder….” 20ft away stood Shelby & Colten, holding signs that read “Say Yes” and “Charly Jean Springall.” Phew, the moment is washing over me again. With tears in my eyes, I’m telling you that Charly absolutely lost it. Uncontrollable sobbing. We held each others faces together, smooshed with tears for an entire minute. Once we gathered ourselves, I asked my best friend to marry me. She said yes. The massive crowds around the Central Park fountain erupted into a standing ovation. Everybody had their cameras out filming. The lake was ours, the park was ours, the city was ours, the moment was ours. I presented her with what I call The MANTLEring. 7ct’s of brilliance to signify my love for the number 7, my lucky number, and my fascination with #7 Mickey Mantle, and all that he represented. 

We rowed the lake for a bit. Professed our love for each other. FaceTime’d her parents, and disembarked to hugs & love from all who participated. Shane and Deed ran us through a posed photoshoot. We took our real reservation at The Boathouse to eat, drink, and be merry once more. Later that evening, we all went to a special tour of Yankee Stadium. The Yankees congratulated us on the scoreboard, but sadly our game was canceled due to thunderstorms — a torrential downpour. We caught the Yankees vs Red Sox the next night. Yankees won! The world was perfect. 

What about the missed photo from the horse & carriage ride? God had our back on that. This next part some may say is made up, but I have a hand full of witnesses to confirm it. When we left the Boathouse, to go back to our hotel and get ready for the Yankees game, we decided to walk through the middle of the park. Again, half way through our walk, as were were crossing the street, I said “holy shit, Charly, there’s our horse and carriage and our driver. We have to get a photo.” As they walked up, another couple was inside. Charly said to let it go, and that we weren’t going to kick them out. Hand to god, that carriage stopped its tour early. The couple got out, paid the man, thanked him for letting them off early. He was so excited to see us again, and we showed him Charly’s MANTLEring. We jumped in, and got our photo. I still don’t believe that happened. I still don’t believe the 3 days of insane rain stopped for an hour so we could do the boats. I still don’t believe the complexity of The Proposal all came together, without a hitch — it’s real, all of it. It happened, and it happened so perfectly. 

Charly and I wish to be married in Ireland, as two Irish kids, at Ashford Castle. 7-7-2020. 

Thank you for reading on, and allowing me to share this precious moment with you.

Eamon

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