It's move-in weekend, Fall 2006 and it's time for my parents and me to set out on this road trip from Atlanta to Texas. We make it to Waco and it's officially time for me to start my journey as Baylor University Bear. Dad heads over to start moving my things into my dorm while mom and I locate where I'll be taking my math placement test. We get everything situated in my room and it's time to head over to the first event of the weekend at Fountain Mall. I meet back up with Korae, who "happens" to be walking with her bestie Tray. She introduces the two of us and asks if I'd like to ride with them so that Tray could go collect the rest of his things from his parent's house. I thought it was a little awkward but I'm like "yeah why not?" They showed me around the city and I briefly met Tray's parents (even more awkward at that point). Fast forward to that night and it was time to get dressed and attend our first college party! Korae reaches out and lets me know I can ride with her and Tray to the party. In my mind, I'm thinking "dang does Tray not have any homeboys on campus?" But once again I was like "Ok sure, Korae let's do it!" We all had a blast and made it back to our dorms safely but now all of a sudden Tray can't seem to find his ID card to get into his dorm. So he asks if he can sleep on my couch for the night. In my head, once again, I'm thinking "Why my couch and not Korae's couch?" It took me well into my sophomore year to realize that Korae AND Tray set me up, my first day on campus, and from that night on into the 2nd semester of sophomore year, Tray and I were the best of friends and literally connected at the hip. It was January of 2008 when he organized a surprise party with all of our friends, he got down on one knee, played the song "Promise Ring", and asked me to be his girlfriend. At that moment, I knew we'd be in this for the long haul...14yrs and counting (for those of you still counting!) As a Southside of Atlanta, Georgia Peach I am often asked why I went WAY to Texas for college. On October 23, 2021, when Tray got down on one knee for the final time, I knew then that I had finally had the official answer to that question. It was to find the absolute love of my life and bring my TX-bred "Papah Bear" back down South with his GA peach....SIC EM BEARS!

Our love story started on our first day on campus at Baylor University. Ashley and my sister Korae had already connected and became friends weeks before, so I was tagging along with them and exploring campus. Eventually, Korae gave me a ride to my mom's house and Ashley rode. I could see that she kept eyeing me and flirting with me and I thought she was beautiful so I wasn’t complaining. We would later go out that night, our first night out as college students. By that time we had hung out all day and knew that we were attracted to each other. We would talk and dance at the party and she would tell me how much she loved my Texas swag with my cornrows, grill, and my chain. In the following weeks, we would hang out and become closer as we both were going through the struggles of freshman life together and enjoying the freedoms of being away from home at the same time. After some time of courting Ashley, we eventually made it official as boyfriend and girlfriend, that’s what we called it back then. We would grow together throughout our college years and both eventually became happy Baylor graduates. I don’t know where I would be without Ashley being there for me to keep me going when times were hard. Her beauty inside and out, intelligence, heart for other people, and her unconditional love for me and my family are just a few things, amongst many, that made me fall in love with Ashley and just some of the reasons why I wouldn’t want to spend the rest of my life with anyone else.