It’s been a long time since Nicole Shaw and Chris McCabe first met—years, in fact—but after taking a chance on each other, the couple realized that they were meant to be with
McCabe recently proposing to Shaw at Old Westbury Gardens’ annual Rise of the Jack O’Lanterns after six years of dating.
McCabe, now an NYPD officer, and Shaw, who works for Mill Neck Services for Deaf Adults, met in middle school and developed their friendship through high school, said Shaw.
“We would go get ice cream together, see movies and he would even come get dinner with my mom and me,” she said. “All of that time, I thought we were just friends until I found out he secretly had a crush on me for a long time. Space had grown between us after that and we both started dating other people and lost contact.”
The pair reunited at a party at a friend’s house during their first year of college and that’s where their love story began.
Ready to take their relationship to the next level, McCabe hatched a plan to create a perfect—and meaningful—proposal for the woman he calls “the girl of [his] dreams.”
“While I was looking through Instagram one night, I saw a friend of mine post a picture of her and her boyfriend in front of the I Love You sign at the Rise of the Jack O’Lanterns,” said
McCabe. “I thought it would be a great idea to propose to Nikki [there] since we go to the walk every year and I knew she would have no clue.”
“It was just an ordinary night to me. Every year, his family and I go to these haunted houses and pumpkin walks. Last year we went to the Rise of the Jack O’Lanterns so I thought nothing of it, just another year’s Halloween trip,” said Shaw.
Things moved quickly, said McCabe, and he only had one day between picking up the ring and going to the walk, not even having a chance to get it properly sized. However, he made sure to nail all of the important details, like making sure to secretly invite Shaw’s mother and sister-in-law to witness the proposal, and even worked through his nerves to give Shaw a proposal to remember.
“I wasn’t nervous thinking about it and setting it up, but when it came down to me getting on my knee, I was nervous and my mind went blank. I could barely get words out,” he said.
However, that all faded away when an ecstatic Shaw agreed to be his wife. “I was shocked,” said Shaw. “I started hysterically crying right away. I couldn’t find any words to say. Even though we talked about engagement, it was just so unreal until it actually happened. I was on cloud nine. I don’t even remember saying ‘yes,’ I just grabbed his face and kissed him.
Just knowing he was down on one knee asking me to marry him—that was the best feeling in the world,” she explained.
And the couple’s love for each other continues to grow every day.
“I have had feelings for this girl since I was in seventh grade,” said McCabe of Shaw. “She puts a smile on my face just by looking at me. She will go out of her way to do anything for me. It’s hard to explain the feeling. She’s my best friend and the love of my life. From the first time I saw her, I knew she was the one for me.”
And even though it took Shaw a little while longer, it turned out that McCabe was the man of her dreams, too. “We are opposites in almost every way, but what I am lacking he has and vice versa. We even each other out and have this amazing connection, this bond that is unbreakable. He is my best friend, my other half, he means the world to me and I couldn’t picture my life without him.”
