Thank you for being part of our forever!!!

I have to tell this story myself, because if he tells it, he’ll skip every single important detail. About 20 years ago, back in Ghana, we were in the same congregation. Our families knew each other so well that for anyone who didn’t understand the closeness, we just said we were cousins. In 2008, he and his family moved to the U.S., and we mostly kept in touch through his sister, Amma. She and I talked all the time—she became more like a sister to me. Fast-forward to December 31, 2022: with the help of Amma and her husband, I moved to Philadelphia. I hadn’t spoken to him in years, but Amma and I were on the phone literally every day. Suddenly I was in a new country, adjusting to the food, the weather, and living alone for the first time. I needed new friends, a new routine—new everything. And whenever it got overwhelming, Amma was the one I cried to. One day, after one of those tearful calls, my phone rang the next morning… and it was him. The conversation was completely one-sided—because everyone knows I hate people being in my business. Amma definitely didn’t have to expose me like that! A year later, Amma invited me on a trip to visit him and their mum, between December 18–24, 2023. We visited Savannah first, then headed to Florida on December 21. He had just gotten off work when we arrived. While Amma proudly introduced me as their cousin, he kept calling me “a friend.” (Sure… okay.) He had a whole list of fun plans—new, adventurous things I’d never done. He even got me on a cheetah rollercoaster and made me break a nail! But I was having the best time. And then, on the last day, my dramatic self ate common popcorn and my allergies attacked. I was coughing nonstop, my throat was on fire. When we got home, he was so worried—searching for medicine, hovering over me, taking care of me. I kept looking at him like, what is happening right now? The way he cared for me completely caught me off guard. After I got home from the trip, he kept checking on me. And then we just… never stopped talking. I learned his work schedule, the times he started and got off. If he didn’t call in the morning, he’d at least text. A week into all this talking, I was already telling my best friend that I had met someone—even though he hadn’t asked me out yet. Then on Sunday, March 17, 2024, around 6:30 p.m., he video-called me. And he finally asked the question. I was so shocked I couldn’t even answer—I told him I needed to call him back! Of course my first call was to Amma, who immediately screamed, “Say yes, pleassse!” Meanwhile, he was texting me, “Don’t tell my sister.” Too late. And that’s our story. We went from friends, to “family” by word of mouth, to finally becoming real family. A journey to eternity with my sunshine and my peace.