I have met all the most influential people in my life through sharing an experience through videogames and the time I met Ellena is no different. My best friend Ronald invited me to hang out with a group of his old band mates at one of their houses. I was always happy to meet new folks and most of Ronald’s friends so far had been cool. Ronald and I arrived at his friend’s apartment, and he introduced me to the crew. Among the set of old band mates was Ellena. I remember my first thought of her was that she was incredibly cute. We all bonded over the video game “Mount Your Friends,” A game where you make a tower of people on top of a goat. While playing, I decided to play the role of commentator, pretending that the game itself was an Olympic sport. Ellena was having an enjoyable time and was enjoying the bit as much as I was. Afterwards, the rest was history. The next time we spent time together was at a technology convention and we finally exchanged Windows Live Messenger names so we could keep chatting. For the next two years we became close friends spending time together with friends and playing videos games together. One night, Ellena came clean about her feelings for me through tears because she felt like she needed rejection to move on. The reason for this was because I was unfortunately in a relationship at the time, to which I was loyal. Thankfully, Ellena was respectful of my current relationship and tried her best to move on. Unfortunately for her, those feelings were hard to shake. Regardless, Ellena and I managed to remain best friends. Things changed when my current relationship ended. I was depressed and did not want to do anything with other people but both Ellena and Ronald were persistent in keeping me active. I knew Ellena still had feelings for me, but I asked her to give me time to recover from my previous relationship. I did not want her to feel like a rebound. I respected Ellena and she made me feel like someone cared about me. Every conversation the two of us had was fulfilling and meaningful. If I was going to start dating Ellena, I needed time to leave the past behind. After a couple of weeks, Ellena and I began spending more time together. We did the usual things we did together until we started going everywhere together. One night at her house, we had a lengthy conversation about where things were, where my feelings stood and where hers had always been. I decided at that moment to finally ask her to be with me. Ellena of course, answered with a resounding “Yes!”

I remember Eric being nervous and adamant that we had to go somewhere that he would not disclose to me on Jan 1, 2023. On the drive to this place, I realized two things. One, Eric was breathing heavily. Two, I was not sure if that square in his pocket was his wallet or something else. So, me being unsure I thought "Nah, can it? Nah..." During the drive, he said "I know the 1st of every year isn't a big deal for you but I want to do something so you can look forward to a new year. I want to make a tradition starting this year and when we move forward with our future family." I was happy, excited, and felt like the luckiest woman in the world because of how he always thought of our future together. I replied "That sounds like a plan. It would be a fun tradition." We then arrived at Topeekeegee Yugnee Park. This park holds a lot of wonderful memories for Eric and the place where we had our first date. When we were trying to go to the park's gazebo, we realized it was unfortunately closed. I remember Eric going "Oh no.! Well...um...let's go over there". We then walked around, talking, and laughing. After a few minutes of enjoying each other's company, I realized another two things that were out of the ordinary. First, He was REALLY breathing hard. Second, in the distance, I noticed there was a lady who looked like my mom and walked the same way as she did. I called out and saw the lady walk faster with her unique wobble. That is when I saw my sister Rubi, my brother Steven, and our friend Ronald (He introduced us). After we reunited with the family and began saying our greetings, Eric got down on one knee and before he even began to ask the question, I said "YES!"