Jen Cardarelli and her 5-year-old son, Teddy, were on the way to the Museum of Science on Saturday for The Taylor Swift Experience at the Planetarium when they saw a classic Swift love song come to life.
Along the Charles River on a rainy day around 3:15 p.m., a man knelt and proposed to a overjoyed woman. Queue “Love Story.”
“I freaked out, obviously,” Cardarelli, 40, of Grafton, said. “I screamed, grabbed my cell phone, and started recording them.”
The video, which Cardarelli sent to the Instagram account @onlyinbos in hopes it might reach the couple, has since received more than 600,000 views and over 36,000 likes.
People have quickly compared the proposal to Jim and Pam’s rain-soaked moment at a gas station from the American version of “The Office” or the famous kiss scene between Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams in “The Notebook.”
“I hope somebody finds them and tags them, this is the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen in my news feed,” one person commented.
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Cardarelli arrived at the intersection of Memorial Drive and Amesbury Street in Cambridge just as the man began his proposal. The red light didn’t turn green until she had said yes, she said.
Cardarelli considered it fate.
A clinical operations manager and an interior designer, Cardarelli had “always” wanted to see a proposal, and this one was straight from a “movie,” she said.
“I‘ve never seen a proposal before, but always I’ve wanted to see one, which is why I got so excited,” Cardarelli said. “That was like a storybook or like a fairy tale-type engagement.”
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The video is muted on Instagram, but Cardarelli says “Awwwwww” in the background while blink-182’s “All the Small Things” blared from her car’s speakers.
Teddy, her son, was desperate to understand what was going on, Cardarelli said.
“Can I see, can I see?” he asked his mother.
Teddy had many questions afterward, Cardarelli said, like what was the man doing on one knee and why were they by the Charles River on a rainy day.
Cardarelli’s favorite part of the proposal was when the woman leaned back in for a “second kiss.”
“It was an adorable proposal,” she said.
Cardarelli and husband, Anthony, got engaged at her home in 2017, followed by an “impromptu celebration” with friends and family.
“I wouldn’t say it was as magical,” Cardarelli said.
“It was magical,” Anthony objected in the background, as Cardarelli laughed.
The couple in the video have yet to identify themselves on Instagram, but Cardarelli said she hopes they will see the video.
“You guys are adorable,” Cardarelli said she would tell them.
“I wish you the best of everything to come in life, and they look like they’re a really cute couple.”
As she continued driving down Memorial Drive, she saw a professional photographer capturing the moment.
“If I had the still photos, I would still want the video,” Cardarelli said.
As Swift sang, “It’s a love story, baby, just say, ‘Yes.’”
Ava Berger can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @Ava_Berger_.