February 29, 2020 was right before the world changed forever as we would know it, in so many ways. Kelsey was in her second year of graduate school preparing to graduate with her master's in counselor's education from Clemson University. One day, Kelsey contacted her childhood friend who lived in North Carolina (just a few hours from Clemson) to see what her upcoming weekend plans were. Her friend responded that she was going out in Charlotte for CIAA (an annual basketball tournament for historically black colleges and universities). It was the last year CIAA would be in the Queen City and Kelsey didn't want to miss her chance to be with the people! Her friend told her to meet her at her god mother's house in Charlotte and they would take the train into the city. Christian was living in Durham, North Carolina, working as an automation engineer for Biogen, a pharmaceutical company that specializes in neurological vaccines. He graduated from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and moved to Durham, NC, for his job. After four years of hard work as a chemical engineer major, Christian was determined to attend more events and spend more time with friends and family. As an HBCU graduate, he knew this was the last year CIAA would be in Charlotte, where he spent a large portion of his adolescence, and once he learned his sister had free tickets to the game, it was a simple yes to the invitation to attend. When the weekend of the CIAA event came, Christian drove from Durham to Charlotte and realized that his mom had invited her god daughter to stay at their house for the weekend and another friend was driving up from Clemson to join them as well. It started off with a few glances shared in the living room, where Kelsey and Christian saw each other for the first time. Christian remembers the big green coat Kelsey was wearing that cold February day and the way her natural curly hair completed her beautiful smile. Kelsey remembers the Black Pyramid shirt he was wearing and his unforgettable moves on the dance floor that night. They danced all night and allowed occasional glances to turn into bashful smiles. In the morning of the next day, the two exchanged phone numbers and have never stopped talking from that point forward. On that day, a leap day, that only happens every four years, the start of a beautiful relationship had begun. The couple had no idea that a world-wide pandemic would soon affect the entire globe and we would all be living quarantined in our homes from the next few years. In the midst of the pandemic, Kelsey and Christian continued to visit one another and filled their time with many many hiking trips, going to the pool, and exploring restaurants that had great takeout menu options. But most importantly, they prayed together. They prayed about their future, individually and together. If it was in God's plan for their relationship to become serious, Kelsey would have to move to North Carolina (Durham specifically) and they could see what was next for them. By October 2020, God answered their prayer by providing Kelsey with the job opportunity to work as an admissions counselor at North Carolina Central University in Durham...and the rest is history!