Published: April 25, 2008 12:55 pm            

Window washer writes wedding proposal

LAWRENCE, Mass. — It is usually Matt Boucher's job to make sure the windows at Carleen's Coffee Shop are clean.



He made an exception last weekend and it paid off.



The 23-year-old, who washes windows for extra cash, whipped out white shoe polish and scribbled "Abby, will you marry me?" on the diner's glass-paneled door.



Abby Dyson, a waitress at the Broadway diner, said yes.



"I had one of her friends ask for help in another room. She came back out and I said, 'Can you believe it? I just finished washing the windows and someone wrote all over them,'" Boucher said. "When she looked over, I got down on my knee with a ring."



Carleen's staff kept the proposal on the door all weekend, giving customers something to talk about.



"I was talking with my friend's mom trying to figure the best way to do it," Boucher said. "I thought of taking her to Olive Garden for a romantic dinner, or doing it at a Celtics game on the JumboTron."



But Boucher decided to stick with what comes naturally — the window washing.



That day he spent his usual 40 minutes cleaning all the windows — knowing he was going to make a mess — all to keep his surprise secret.



"Even when I saw the writing, I still didn't believe him at first. I really thought someone else wrote it," Dyson said. "Then I looked around and everyone had goofy smiles on their faces, and there was a camera."



Dyson found the shoe polish message extremely romantic.



"I thought it was perfect," she said. "I never cared how he proposed. I just wanted him to put a lot of time and thought into it. That's what mattered most to me. And I was surrounded by my best friends."



Crystal Bozek writes for The Eagle-Tribune in North Andover, Mass.

        

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