Here’s a letter I wrote to a couple we may be buying a house from in Baltimore.
Hello Mr. & Mrs. _________
My name is Benjamin, and my realtor, Steve Hane, invited me to tell you a bit of our story.
My fiance� Tamika and I have been looking for a place for quite some time now. I’m a graphic designer and work for a large non-profit organization called “National Fatherhood Initiative” (a program that helps dads to be better dads) and Tamika works as a high school coach and full-time substitute teacher. She’s working on getting her teacher certification so she can teach in the Baltimore school district.
We met in college, and became best friends, but didn’t start dating until after college. We both lived and worked in the Harrisburg area, and got to spend a lot of time with one another as the summer went on. We knew we wanted to get married since we started expressing feelings for one another; and last Thanksgiving I asked permission from her father (we’re fortunate to have very supportive parents) and officially proposed to her. I didn’t have a ring at that time, but we both knew the timing was right to start preparing for the wedding.
I knew I still wanted to get her an engagement ring, though, so I began designing one for her that was my own creation and had it made. The jeweler finished it and it arrived last week.
This past Monday on Memorial Day, I knew that I was going to give her the ring, but she wanted to look at some houses in the Baltimore area.
So, I arranged for us to meet Steve in the morning, and planned to surprise her by having both our parents show up at Patterson Park after we were done house-looking.
The three of us drove around for a while looking at different houses, but didn’t find anything. Finally we gave up and went to the real estate office to cool off and get some lunch.
I had told Steve ahead of time that we needed to go early so I could meet our parents and to play along, but just before we were about to leave Steve found your property online. We looked through the listing and as Steve read us the details Tamika and I both knew it was right. But we had so little time!
We rushed over to the house, and we’re absolutely stunned. If Tamika and I had designed a house for us to live in ourselves, this is what it would look like. We are both so excited that a house like this might could be ours!
I had to pull Tamika away (we must have gone through the house 5 times!) and we drove over to the Pagoda in Patterson Park, and our parents were waiting for us there.
She was so surprised. She never expected anything like that, or for both of our parents to be there! Our parents had never officially met before, because mine live in Connecticut and work as Bible Translators for a Native American tribe in Quebec. So, amid everyone, I got down on my knee and gave her the ring.
That’s our story! (at least a small part of it)
I’m looking foreword to going through this process with you, and can’t wait to talk to you both.
Thanks so much,
~Benjamin