We are Getting Married!

I was invited by Vince to attend a “Club Hype” meeting at Howard Community College. With little else to do, I decided to attend. When I entered the meeting room, there stood this tall skinny guy wearing oversized clothing leading the meeting. While his outfit left little to be desired, his voice was commanding yet friendly and I instantly liked him. Now let me provide a little background about “Club Hype.” Club Hype is a dance club. I do NOT dance, well let me correct that “I do not dance WELL.” So I was completely out of my element and proceeded to just watched and listened. The tall guy did eventually introduce himself- turns out his name was Giancarlo and he was the SGA President. He proceeded to give his “get involved” spiel. However, no numbers were exchanged and we moved on with our lives. “A Story as Old as Facebook”- The Reconnect Fast forward a few months later and we somehow reconnected through a Facebook friend’s request. I created a Facebook post offering my left over Halloween candy to any takers and Giancarlo responded that he was interested. We met at the library, he picked up the candy and left. From there, we began speaking casually and became friends. Started out calling him my friend, then my boyfriend and now my fiancé. Can’t wait to call him my husband.

Janine and I first met at Club Hype, a dance club I was a part of at Howard Community College. She was a guest of a mutual friend of ours Vince, who invited her and some of his friends to sit in our practice. I thought that would be the end of our story but after initially seeing her at practice, I found myself recognizing her more on campus. Eventually we connected with each other on Facebook and on a rare occasion, I challenged myself to be social and outgoing. I noticed that she posted about having left over candy from Halloween and I used that as my opportunity to 1. Get free food and 2. Try to get to know someone. It was the start of a friendship that has now led to where we are today. She gave me candy and we exchanged numbers so we can keep in touch. We hung out more and I began to learn more about her. We realized that we had a lot in common and our drive to succeed were similar. I asked her to be my Vice President of SGA and thankfully she agreed. We continued to be supportive of each other and then decided to unify our friendship with the love and passion that made it what it is today. I am happy to say that I have shared life with a supportive and empowering woman. I look forward to calling her my wife.

After purchasing the ring, I showed it to our dog Benjamin Buju Button I, who gave me his blessing. This was really happening... I bought us tickets to go to Curlfest, which was the decoy event. I coordinated a trip to the Atlanta Botanical Garden with a friend, organized a meeting with my frat brother, who just so happened to be a photographer, and lived near the garden. I also hired a singer to sing one of her favorite songs “Turn the lights down low”. This was really happening...After everything was planned out, we went to the garden where the singer and the photographer were set up for the moment. We walked over to this exhibit that was of a woman with water pouring from her hand. Being Janine, she wanted to read about the exhibit as the music began. She was about to kill the moment I thought. I was not having that. I gently tugged her along to the area where the music was clearer to hear and in that moment she realized what was happening. As we danced together with the music playing, I asked her to marry me. And on September 19, 2019, I became engaged to Janine St. Claire Ross. We celebrated our engagement by turning up at Curlfest shortly after. A surreal moment that will always make us smile.