THROUGH HER EYES: Hascal and I first met in 2015 during our Masters program at Meharry before starting medical school. He first stood out to me because he was always answering the biochem questions in class- and biochem was not my favorite. A few weeks later, I was studying with some classmates in the library and noticed he was in the room next door. We couldn’t for the life of us figure out this math question, but I knew Hascal would know the answer. I walked into his study room and with a smile he helped me figure it out (he probably thought I was flirting but I was really trying to get that A). The next day he asked to study together and the rest is history! We went from study partners to best friends. We didn't know it yet, but we started building our life together in that study room. That year was one of the hardest of my life, but also one of the most beautiful. The year we discovered our love for restaurants, our love for traveling, but most importantly our love for each other. It all started with a math problem and he is truly my other half. I cannot wait to be Mrs. Humes! THROUGH HIS EYES: Before we actually truly met, I saw Lauren in the library when we started our master’s program at Meharry Medical College. She came into our study room and asked me how to do a math problem she may or may not have known how to do. She left, and I told my classmate Kerwin I’m gonna marry her. The next day I slid into her DM’s and said “Hey.. I feel like we should study together” and she responded with her number- the rest was history. It was at this moment I knew she was the one for me. The next few months were some of the happiest of my life. We were inseparable. I had found my person. It was in the hallowed study rooms of Meharry’s Kresge Library that I fell in love with Lauren Blake. Whether it was me and my good friend Murray driving through the snow so she wouldn’t miss her MCAT, or her making sure I stayed focused (as tall a task as any) during the trenches of studying for board exams, we held each other up in every way possible. Whatever I needed help with, she was there. And the one class she needed help in, I was there for her too. I loved her then as I do now, and I cannot wait to spend the rest of our lives together.

Given that they were in different states, both working toward achieving their lifelong dreams, Hascal knew that he would have to step outside of his comfort zone and do something he is historically terrible at: planning. Luckily, he had a moment of self-awareness early in the process: he knew he could not do it alone. After assembling a council of his top advisors (some of her closest friends: Antonia, Hannah, Kidist, and Crystal), he collected different ideas to manifest her dream proposal. A surprise trip to Jamaica! A place Lauren’s parents took her when she was young and always talked about returning to. Hascal arranged for a sunset photoshoot for the two of them on the beach, after which they walked down a small flight of stairs where the words “Will you marry me” were drawn out in the sand. The moment Hascal got on one knee and asked Lauren the ultimate question was truly a blur for him, but he distinctly remembered her smile, and in that second he knew he had made the right choice. Afterwards they had a zoom meeting for the ages, full of love and happiness from so many members of their respective friends and families. It was officially official, they were engaged to be married.