Despite what you’ll read following this version, this is the TRUTH. It started when I was a twinkle in my mother’s and father’s eye. It was there, where my “glow” was first formed. Fast forward however many years to my aunt Maria’s Christmas Tree Lighting event. This has been tradition for years but my first time attending. Now with a family as big as mine I’m used to meeting new people at our gatherings. There’s always a cousin of a cousin, who is the daughter of an uncle you never met. This was different. There was a new face that wasn’t linked to any cousin, aunt, uncle etc. She was beautiful. That she, was Codee. That night she struggled to master a particular dance. She was struggling so much.... that it distracted me from noticing her beauty in its entirety. I couldn’t get pass the look of determination on her face. She practiced for hours with the same intensity. That’s the kind of ambition that I’m attracted to. Little did I know, she had already begged my cousin Jasmine (her best friend) to introduce us because she had been checking me out. When we were introduced, I vaguely heard her utter the words “I’m marrying his fine ass one day”. I paid it no mind. All we said was “hi”. After a few trips to Atlanta, Codee making a trip to New York, Codee attending a family cookout and completely wearing me down; I heard her utter the words again “I’m gonna marry his fine ass one day”. This time I agreed 100%. This would lead to frequent trips to Atlanta and an amazing trip to Jamaica where she further let me know she was the one. We conversed to wee hours of the night about family, our goals and aspirations and our love for 112 music. We even talked about what I wanted our wedding day to look like. That’s right, I. She was not sold on the idea of having a wedding but it was my turn to wear her down. And here we are before you as the Rouses!

Some would think we’ve known each other most of our lives since I married the cousin of my best friend since the 1st grade. BUT our story is more unique than that and our path to each other was none other than God’s perfect timing and his divine intervention. Here’s my side, November 24, 2017 during Mommie Maria’s annual lighting of the Christmas tree gathering, (which I probably attended once before this time) spirits were flowing and everyone was in the festive spirit. It was a family and friends gathering and people were generally introduced as they entered. The party was in full swing and I was feeling great. For some time now I had a strong desire to learn how to “twerk” which was not anything new. I made it a point whenever music was playing to try to learn this skill, so that night was no different. Only this time the ladies were bringing out all the props and had the same determination that night to make sure that I learned. I didn’t care who was watching and probably took up a lot of time that we could’ve used doing something else. I was the focus at least for the ladies that were trying to teach me, but I learned later that my ambition and determination also caught my soon to be husband's eyes at the time. Little did I know he had posted up in the corner with all eyes on me. After tiring myself out, I was out of breath, sweating profusely, disheveled, because this truly felt like a workout to me, I gave up for the night. As I was going into the kitchen, we made eye contact and said a short hello and that was it. I really didn’t see him anymore that night. After the holidays he went back to his home in New York. I started to hear rumblings from my best friends’ family that someone had their eyes on me. I didn’t think too much of it because I hadn’t heard that from him, plus he was hundreds of miles away. The following year he started to make frequent visits here to Atlanta. He knew what he wanted and put everything in place to make it a reality.

December 21, 2019 the night of our second annual Holiday game night, all our family was present. It was a night filled with good food and drinks, games, a pajama fashion show, and karaoke. Halfway through the event I started getting concerned that things had come to what I thought was a standstill and we needed to keep the flow of the party going as the little kids kept coming up to me asking when we were going to play more games. Little did I know that my husband had another plan in in full swing behind the scenes. Tre let him know that the time was now, and they started what I thought was another round of karaoke which started with me. They started playing my favorite Christmas song – Jackson Five “Give Love on Christmas Day” and called me up. I took the mic and I was in my element. Singing my heart out with my eyes closed, I started to hear the cheers of the crowd who I thought was really into my performance. Everyone started screaming my name as I continued singing making sure I hit every note. It took me some time to realize that it was not about the stellar performance, but they were trying to get my attention to turn around. Once I snapped out of my singing element I turned around and there he was down on one knee. The mic dropped, he proposed, and I said “YES”. He definitely executed his plan to give love during this Christmas holiday and we are so excited to celebrate this love with you.