Photo by Haille Burkart
Shortly after Jason gave Heather her birthday gift—perfume—in the backyard of her Pittsfield home, he got down on one knee and looked her in the eyes.
“I didn’t know what he was going to do,” said Heather days later. “I started to get pretty nervous. I got down on my knee too.”
“I was worried about her saying yes,” Jason said. “I could also see she was shaking, so I didn’t want to take too long.”
So he got right to the point. “I said, Will you be my wife? It felt incredible when she said yes. It still feels incredible.”
While it came as a surprise to Heather, a few people close to Jason received a leaked alert ahead of time. “But we had no idea that this was the day, on her birthday,” said Marley Whitcomb, the assistant manager for Heather’s home. “When I saw him get on his knees, I was a bit shocked.”
Given the COVID rules that govern visits, Marley and staff member Soncere Williams were monitoring the visit from the house’s second porch. “We wanted to give them some privacy, but we were close enough to watch everything,” said Soncere. “I had no idea that this was in the works. I could see Jason’s face lit up with a big smile.”
To add weight to the moment, the two had not seen each other for nearly five months since their last night out to dinner, due to BCArc’s COVID-19 rules governing visits. At that time, they had been dating for nearly two years, and have been talking on the phone almost every night.
Photo by Haille Burkart
Before proposing, Jason sought some sage advice from Chris Melski, Director of Residential Services, who runs the BCArc Men’s Group. “From our phone conversation, Jay was pretty clear that he was going to do this,” said Chris. “He understood that this was a lifelong commitment and he knew exactly what he was doing. Jay told me he loved her and was going to treat her like gold.” Chris recalled Jason’s exact words: “I will take care of her forever.”
“This is exactly what we set out to accomplish at BCArc,” said Chris. “Supporting individuals to live full lives, to understand their choices, and to be happy like we all want to be.”
When Jason asked Chris for specific words to use, Chris advised, “Speak from your heart, then present the ring.”
The Set Up
The story starts with Brian, a mutual friend who brought them together, explained Michelle Bedard, who works at the Co-op apartments in Pittsfield, where Brian and Jason live. Brian works with Heather at Zip-‘N-Sort, and told her he knew a nice single guy at the apartments where he lived. From there a phone call was arranged.
“The phone call went real well,” said Michelle. “A day or two later, Jason decided he didn’t want to wait anymore. He hopped on his bike, rode to Zip-N-Sort and introduced himself.”
Since then they have been visiting one another, going out to dinner, seeing movies, and taking walks. Eventually, Jason met Heather’s parents, which went well enough to lead to their current state—engaged.
“She loves showing off the ring, she loves to talk about it,” said Michelle.
So what’s next? “We wait for the virus to pass, and then we will start talking about the next steps,” said Jason, sounding relieved that the hard part was over, for the moment.
