We’ve been in each other’s lives since we were kids. We never really talked or interacted like that, but we were always around each other. In high school, we became better friends, still surface level, it never became deeper than that. We became even better friends in college, but there were never any feelings there.

On new years eve (2018 going into 2019), Andje Yassa took us to a party downtown. It was the three of us, and Marcus Stone. At this point, Barbara had already caught feelings over the past month or two. In the car on the way back, she accidentally made a comment that made it obvious, but we just dismissed it. A couple days later on a trip in Tennessee, Barbara confessed that she was attracted to me. Honestly, I didn’t share in the sentiments, but I knew the type of person she was, and I wanted to see if there was something there. So we started talking and going on dates. One day she walked into my house for our third date…I was just so attracted. I couldn’t lay my eyes off her. Barbara used to always tell me that she used to write letters to her future husband. So on her birthday, I wrote her a letter telling her she was cute. On Valentine’s Day, she wrote me a letter that was so emcouraging. I remember reading it, and asking her to be my girlfriend. And that was that.

I (Omari) was having a really rough year in 2018 mentally, I couldn’t get out of it. I remember Andje asking us to come to this new years eve party, it actually ended up being so fun. Before the clock struck midnight, we all went up to the rooftop to watch the fireworks. I remeber wheh we counted down and it was finally 2019, I couldn’t believe that I had made it. I just stood there and cried. I told God “this year, move in my life in ways that I didn’t think were possible”. Then like three days later, Barbara told me she liked me. When I decided to propose, I knew it had to be on that rooftop. I was never the same after we got together. She brought out the best parts of me, she spoke life over me when it felt like it was never going to get better. In a way, she was the answer to that prayer, She’s everything I’ve ever wanted and more.