Carl and I were both raised in Dallas, TX our whole lives. But our story didn’t begin until one fateful night at a Nigerian party at the old faithful Noble’s Palace Convention Center. It had to be circa 2002/2003. For reference, I have always had older friends and by proxy, as well as the way I carried myself, I was always mistaken to be around the same age as these friends. Cue Carl. He arrived that night with a few guys. One of those guys happened to be dating my close friend Vanessa. Carl also knew Vanessa very well. Carl had noticed me and was showing interest. Introductions were made, we talked a bit at the party and subsequently over the next year or so, we communicated and interacted via our friend groups. Once Carl realized our age gap (5!) and just how young I was (!!), our communication ceased and we minimally kept in touch here and there on MySpace. We did not cross paths again for a couple of years. The first meeting was in Austin that wasn’t really all that friendly to be honest. I definitely brushed him off and paid him no mind at all! It wasn’t until my TTU football team was playing his UofH team that I decided to reach out for assistance in our trip to Houston. Typical damsel in distress mode. He extended himself to meet up with my friends and me and take us around. We talked, hung out and that was that. Or so we thought. After that meet-up in Houston, we felt this spark and continued to spend countless hours on the phone talking, sharing stories, interests and so forth. That led to countless trips back and forth visiting each other and creating memories. Throughout the years of getting to know each other, friendship and the ups & downs of dating, we persisted through all the ebbs & flows of life. We truly have grown together over the years, heightening our understanding of one another, fine-tuning our relationship and eventually it all led to an epic proposal! Now we are here, Glory to God, taking the next steps in our future journey together...

I met "Andrea" first as "IJ" so I will refer to her as such in this story. IJ and I met back in 2003 through a mutual friend Vanessa. Nigerian parties have always had a funny and amazing way of bringing people together. I attended a party at Noble's palace with one of my good friends that Vanessa happened to be dating at the time and I crossed paths with IJ for the first time. She caught my attention and I had to know her. I kept bothering Vanessa to set the introduction up. I SWEAR I was told she was in the 9th grade. Although Andrea is 5 years younger than me, she has always been mature for her age and because of that she has mixed with older people as well. The truth is Andrea was entering the 8th grade and I was entering my senior year of high school! I even remember thanking Vanessa for introducing us (shoutout to Vanessa man!) and even jokingly stated “Chei! IJ is going to wound me oh!” Lol. After officially meeting, we exchanged numbers and stayed in communication and saw each other when we would hang out with our friends or when she would invite all of us to her church’s youth activities, like the Six Flags trip or church lock-ins. Flash forward a couple of months later, I actually found out I was DUPED and realized her REAL age (yikes!). We ceased communication until a couple years later when she was in college and we reconnected. The rest they say is HISTORY! It’s been quite a journey, but by God’s merciful grace, I am so blessed to have reached this point with my future wife and I can not wait to embark on this next chapter together.