The Common One

Yesterday afternoon, I was sitting at Mud Coffee in the East Village, waiting for my cousin Lisa to arrive. Mud was packed, every table filled, a line out the front door. I was able to get a table in the backyard atrium area next to the waiter's station, with a view of the entire area.

I ordered a coffee and proceeded to read, while looking up occasionally to people watch. The place had a loud hum, as people talked loudly and waiters raced by with food and coffee.

I had a direct view of the couple in front of me. They were young, animated, excited, and very happy with each other. I saw him get up and promise to be back in a few minutes.

After about 15 minutes, he turned the corner from the front part of the place. I saw him first with a large bouquet of flowers, and in my cynical way thought, wow he's gone all out, but shouldn't he have bought the flowers before the date.

Her face lit up when she saw him coming. I, of course, wasn't even pretending to read. As he approached her and handed her the flowers, he fell to one knee and pulled out a small box with a ring inside. A silence fell to the back room as everyone realized what was happening. All eyes were on this couple.

She put her hand to her mouth, began to cry, and let out a whispered, "yes." The room started clapping with a letting out of a small cheer. He sat down across from her and people came over to offer congratulations.

I was stunned at first and just was watching what was unfolding in front of me. I hadn't seen anything like this in person, let a lone a table away. I fumbled for my phone to take a picture, but by the time I was able to get it out of my pocket and turned on, he was already sitting across from her.

I snapped a few pics, just seconds after the moment, a bit blurred, and spontaneous, but still able to capture a bit of their unrestrained joy.

I waited until they settled a bit, not wanting to interfere with their moment. Eventually, I interrupted their conversation and said, "it's not perfect, but I have a picture, and it'll be better than nothing."