[Photo courtesy of Diana Catherall]
Diana Catherall grew up on Fourth Street in the East Village. Her boyfriend, Daniel Heydebrand, grew up on Fourth Street in the West Village. Their respective families still live on the street.
So this past Sunday, when Heydebrand proposed to Catherall, he decided to do it in a familiar location — on Broadway, in the crosswalk where East Fourth Street meets West Fourth Street.
"I loved the setting. It was perfect because it’s the halfway point to where we both grew up," Catherall told me. "It was very thoughtful and appropriate."
The proposal included the presence of their dogs and a moving truck owned by Heydebrand's family adorned with a colorful "Diana, will you marry me?" message. Heydebrand's cover story for that morning: They were going to have photos taken of their dogs, hence the presence of a photographer.
Given the time on Sunday morning, there was light traffic on this usually busy Broadway intersection. But it wasn't as if they had time to dawdle.
"Cars eventually honked for us to get out of the way," Catherall said. "But that’s New York ... I would expect nothing less."
