James and I made our relationship official after 3 or 4 dates. How we met is nothing less than fate, perfect timing and perfect place. He had been working at a restaurant we all know and love, Taco Bell. One night I went through the drive thru and we had our first encounter. I asked if they were hiring and he brought over the general manager, shout out Kristin! She told me to apply and I’d get the job immediately, which is exactly what happened. Everything that came after my hire day sped by so fast. I had told a few coworkers that I thought he was soooo cute which was met with suspicion of his sexuality, everyone thought he was gay. As a sibling of someone in the LGBTQ community, my “gaydar” was not alerted when talking to James so I knew it was definitely just speculation. The next day, my coworker told James I had a crush on him which James followed with disbelief. He told me “I thought you guys planned to trick me, I didn’t believe you liked me at all.” Fast forward to the next shift we both worked together, I decided to wear slightly more makeup than normal and James walks past me, stops, takes two steps back to look me in my eyes and says “Are you wearing makeup?” I turned blush red, sooo red, I said “…Yes?” He just nods at me and says “Nice, it looks good.” DUDE I was shook. I dont think I said anything to him for the next hour, I was trying to figure out why he did that and so publicly. That night we closed together and chatted about life and our situations currently. This puts us on course to our relationship. Every night we would close together we sat in our cars just talking, it didn’t matter if it was 2am or 12am we stayed out in the parking lot talking. One night James asked if I wanted to hang out outside of work and I said yes, our first date was in Bastrop. He picked me up at my roommates house, but not before encountering a crazed man who flashed a knife at him (True story actually.) I got in the car and we went to chili’s, we sat at the bar in the corner of the restaurant and ordered our food. It started off slow but we kept conversation going the entire time. After dinner, we went to Tahitian in Bastrop to this cliff that overlooks the river. We stayed at this overlook for 5ish hours just talking and looking at the stars. It was something out of a fairy tale. We decided to finish the night and go home, and hugged the night goodbye. The second date was in Austin, we had decided to go swimming at a river but it didn’t end up working that way. There were too many people at the river that day so we decided to go get some food, go to Dave and Busters, and then finish the night off at Mount Bonnell, one of my favorite overlooks. After this date is when he asked me to be his girlfriend and the story of us began.

We found out I was pregnant the day before my birthday (08-17-2024) and I was very scared with the news. But throughout the pregnancy, finding out her gender, the baby shower, and so much support from our family, and James reassuring me the entire time, I knew we’d be okay. Day of induction I was terrified, I had no expectations of how it was going to feel or what to expect but having James by my side through the entire thing was my saving grace. Micah Jade was born at 7:48am weighing 8lbs 5oz and 21in long, she was beautiful and healthy! The night of her birth she went into a breathing episode and turned blue which James noticed, acting fast I ripped off her swaddle and hat and blew air on her face as hard as I could. James called the nurse and she went to the nursery, later being moved to the NICU and stayed there for 8 days. She was discharged April 13th, and has been home with us ever since! Welcoming our daughter into the world and seeing her being held and cared for by my boyfriend has made my life finally feel complete. I am so in love with my daughter, but watching James be a father has me falling for him again and again.