Josh and I met in Fall of 2016, while going through the Downline Emerging Leaders program. We spent the year growing in our faith with 40 other young adults. That year, I noticed that he always disappeared after class, and found out that he was performing at open mic's. I couldn't believe he was keeping that a secret, so I flirtatiously offered to be his manager.. he politely declined. We hung out in similar circles throughout the year, but didn't really start developing a friendship until the following year. In fall of 2017 we were both volunteering together at a ministry in Memphis, where I got to really see his heart for people and for the city. A couple of months later, he asked me if I'd be willing to feature on his upcoming EP he was working on. I thought, "Of course! This is a once in a lifetime kind of thing!' A couple of months later this once in a lifetime thing turned into shows, more recording, and spending a LOT of time together. We sang a lot of love songs, and we really did have a special connection when we performed together; though I think everyone else saw that before we did. I always watched him when we performed, and we often got asked if we were dating or in love. My response was always "Noo, I just never know what he is going to sing next". We had no intentions of falling in love, whatsoever. Life threw us a few curve balls that next year by means of health struggles and heartaches, and we started to grow closer. He cared for me, he was patient, and so kind. He really was becoming one of my best friends. My questions about a future "us" were quickly shut down in my head because I didn't want to ruin this "good thing" we had going on at the time. On April 28, 2018 we went to a concert together "for business purposes". It was only fitting that music would be the thing that brought us together, on what I refer to as our "first accidental date". We went as friends, and came back as a couple, and now we get to make this duo thing a forever thing!

It took me a little while to finally get the courage (and ring) to propose. We had been dating almost two years and I finally came to a place where I was ready to move forward with the proposal. Stacy and I had talked at different points about the engagement ring and what she would want. In February of this year I had a quick business trip to NYC. Stacy and I had been to Manhattan once before, but I didn’t think she would be able to come this time because she had her own work trip the same weekend. As fate would have it, her work trip was cancelled short notice and she was able to find a last-minute flight out of Memphis. I had already purchased a ring – I was ready. I hadn’t really thought about doing it in NYC until the week of the trip. To me Central Park was an obvious choice, but I didn’t know how to pull it off without Stacy knowing. I decided I would hire a photographer to take pictures of us in the park, with Stacy under the impression that they were for music promotion, etc. She totally bought it! Anytime she brought up the idea of a proposal I would just leave it super open ended and shrug it off. We ended up having an hour-long photo shoot in the park and she was completely clueless. The photographer was in on the whole thing and I queued her when it was time to propose. I didn’t really say anything to thought provoking – just “will you marry me?” It took Stacy a few moments to realize what had just happened and she finally said “yes!” I didn’t know which finger to put her ring on and after a little confusion we finally got it on her finger. As soon as we had taken our last photo it started lightly snowing over the park and we decided to head to Times Square to celebrate!