The beginning of a beautiful journey sometimes is awkward. I was awarded a scholarship to study in Russia, which obviously meant I and other awardees had to travel. Leaving my family behind, knowing I wasn't going on a vacation bothered me. I was in a shuttle bus about to head to the airport and did not want to speak to anyone. I placed my hand luggage on the seat next to me so no one would have a seat. I kept ignoring people who tried to ask for the seat and stared out of the window, awaiting the driver to move the shuttle. Tari walked by me a couple of times, came back to my seat and asked me nicely to remove my bag so he could have a sit . I stared at him with disgust, but he immediately apologized for inconveniencing me. I looked around and realized that there was an empty seat behind me, which made me furious. I never gave him eye contact rather, I stared straight outside at my mom and siblings waving goodbye (spoilt child). Eventually I offered him the seat, I later saw Tari waving at a beautiful lady who took great care of me when I was admitted in the hospital. I nicely asked Tari who she is to him and his response was "my mom". Oooppsss!! I promptly had few questions for him and we began talking. I had a hideous day and so it was a bit of an off conversation from my end. We arrived at the airport and I unfortunately could not push my luggage. I had never before carried anything weighing over 20 pounds for more than 5 minutes by myself. I always traveled with family and never faced any challenge as such. Tari immediately stepped up to me to assist, but someone yelled at him not to because they were supposedly advised by immigration officials not to carry bags that they do not know the content of. Tari ignored and went ahead to help me lift my luggage to the carriage, from where he pushed both of our luggage. I thought OMG!!! this is so weird, but nice. I had to seize that opportunity you know and thought...Ummm I'll probably not run into him again.

Consequently, we boarded the same flight heading to Moscow, Russia. We sat on different seats which was some what relieving despite his assistance. About an hour into the flight, I saw him approaching me and I was like "huh!!", this dude again? I acted like I was asleep which worked. Tari walked to where I was seated, then politely asked the person who sat next to me to exchange seats with him. Wow!!! That was a bold move. I acted like I was fast asleep. Being a gentleman, Tari waited for me to wake up. I was tired of acting asleep, opened my eyes to my amazement, he had fallen. I later fell asleep and at some point, we both woke up to have dinner. We happened to layover in Egypt for a couple of nights, and some how stayed in the same hotel without realizing at first, which was very interesting. I and others ventured out to behold the beauty of Egypt and while at it, I looked around some jewelry stores in the hotel, tried some white gold rings with diamonds necklaces. I couldn't afford them so I walked out laughing and wondering why the jewelries were so expensive. While walking away from the store, I saw Tari going into the jewelry store with a friend or acquaintance. I said "Hello" and quickly went away wondering why I kept running into him. I guess he was stalking me but I wasn't sure why he would do that. My wild thoughts though.. Three hours later after settling down in my room, a phone call came through. I thought to myself, " is there a mechanical or electrical problem, or is the front desk calling to speak to me"?. I was wrong!!! It was Tari. He uttered the word "Hello" and I was like, " who is this", he suddenly said "I AM TRIPPING". Hahahahahah!!!!!! That was the weirdest call ever and unromantic way to speak to a lady about your intentions for the first time.

Tari was embarrassed and so he dropped the call. I kept wondering how he knew my room, but I did not want to ever ask him because I did not want to give him an opportunity to speak to me. Few hours later, I decided to go to the restaurant because I was starving. I saw an associate who I had met earlier in the jewelry store calling for my attention. I thought she wanted to sell her jewelries so I pretended not to have heard and went straight to sit in the restaurant. I was starving and needed to eat asap. The lady came up to me in the restaurant and politely asked that I followed her to the store. I couldn't understand her properly because of the language barrier. Upon arrival at the jewelry store, the sales associate handed me two jewelry boxes. To my amazement there were the two gold rings, with little diamond stones and two necklaces. My jaw actually dropped. I wondered who paid for them? Did she just hand them to me because she likes me, she felt bad for me, I had so many thoughts in my head at that point. The lady later tried to describe Tari to me and I go, "wow, this dude again". I felt really special and flattered and decided to give him a little attention when next I run into him and to appreciate him because he didn't have to purchase anything for me. Nevertheless, I went back to the restaurant for dinner, and ran into Tari sitting with the same person I saw him with earlier in the day at jewelry store. I could not stop smirking nor staring at him. My reaction was priceless and confusing at the same time because I really wanted to make him feel uncomfortable after the phone call he made, and at the same time I wanted to express my profound gratitude. I have to say forsooth, I prided myself for being unflappable in the same restaurant and not overly reacting to either being too nice, or show my irritation at his call. In virtue of how I felt, the jewelries made me feel calmer and special.

Moreso, I walked up to Tari, looked into his eyes, acknowledged receiving the jewelries and appreciated him for the gesture. He laughed nervously and acted like he didn't pay for the jewelries. I sat down next to him, repeated myself, and he finally acknowledged it. Few mins passed by, I can recollect I was ordering mango juice and over heard him tell someone that he just turn a year older. I remember vividly that it was the 24th of Feb 2004, a day I can never forgot. I suddenly made my way to a beautiful Egyptian artist who was getting ready to go on stage. I told her to sing "Happy birthday" in English upon request and she did sing to Tari. I could see Tari' reaction and how impressed he was with me. At the end of the night, he whispered to me 'You didn't have to do that". We got talking more when we arrived Moscow, and became good friends. He invited me to his room for a bit, and upon arrival, he being a gentleman, left his door wide open which made me feel very comfortable and safe. Tari asked few questions about how I knew his mom. We got talking more, and soon we became inseparably. Tari and I became very best of friends. So many people around us thought we were in a romantic relationship from the start, but they were all wrong. He began to win my heart by being so nice, gentle, patience and willingness to assist me in all areas. As a friend, he stood by me through it all - accompanied me to my classes, shopped for me, took care of me when I was ill and so many other special ways he made me feel. This all materialized into a beautiful relationship. Unfortunately, I left Russia not too long after, and eventually relocated to the United States. we more seriously started dating over the phone in terms of understanding and dealing with issues arising from relationships and on top of that dealing with the distance apart.

I was nervous at first to open up to Tari about my Christian faith and the level of commitment I have to God. Turns out I'm out principled. I discussed with him about abstinence, dedication to one another, focusing on building our relationship and then marriage before KIDS which is almost outdated by our millennial. I wanted to be sure of building trust in my relationship, putting God first, and making sure that Tari is accepted by my family. Here we are, Tari waited patiently and we were able to work things out. Its LiT...

I got a text message from my cousin that Tari was in my house. She seemed overly excited and told me she was going to pass on vital information about the reason for Tari's visit to my house. I later received a text from my mom which stated, "Tari came to ask for your hand in marriage". He said he will come with his family to do the first traditional vow" which is called "Knocking of door". I was overwhelmed and did not know how to react. I immediately called my mom, who asked if it was ok for Tari to come over with his family in two days because he had plans to visit me in few days. In exclamation, I called Tari and was shocked at the decision of him wanting to get married to me without formally proposing to me. I mean we were both excited but I was more excited and at the same time very curious to know what was really on his mind, why he made the decision in a split minute without discussing with me or proposing to me in person. A few days after, Tari went to my house with his family to formally meet my family and some extended family members. It was so dramatic and funny because I was in Boston - USA. Tari was in Bayelsa State - Nigeria. I was asked over the phone to stay up so I can answer some questions. I waited patiently as the traditional rites were been done. Most of my family members - mostly men, demanded certain drinks from Tari's family and gave a list of items to buy when he is ready to get married to me. I fell asleep during the rites, woke up and saw over 22 missed calls from random numbers including my mom's number. My family members needed to take a permission from me if they should accept the drinks from Tari and his family. There was tension among both families because I did not pick up their phone calls. I called back my mom, she gave her phone to my uncle, who placed the phone on speaker and then asked if they should accept Tari's drinks. As soon as I answered positively, in amazement I heard almost everyone jubilating.

I had a photo shoot planned in which I invited few of my unbiological sisters. Having Tari in the shoot was such a hustle. Upon leaving ,my house, Tari was very curious of who I invited and asked if certain friends were gonna be there at the shoot. I was wondering why he was inquisitive by being eager to know who was invited. I got my makeup and hair done with the assistance of my kindhearted sisters and was ready to shoot. We walked out with some of my sisters to the lobby to begin the shoot, when Tari excused himself for a bit, went to the room and came back with the rest of my girls that hadn't joined up. We started taking pics and soon Tari told everyone to hold on that he has something to say. I saw my friends all bring out their phones and so I thought to myself " OMG".. my ring is finally here but wasn't too sure. Tari kept talking about how he asked my mom for my hand in marriage stating traditionally it is the right thing to do. And that I have been expecting my ring and also was expecting him to propose to me instead of my mom. Next thing I saw, Tari knelt down and asked me to marry him with a gorgeous diamond ring. I remember him saying nervously "Be my wifey":).. I smirked because I looked him in his eyes and that got him a bit confused. He also placed the ring in the wrong finger, being excited I didn't look at the ring till my friends kept running to look at my ring. I was shocked at the ROCK I mean he got me a DIAMOND ring. I couldn't be more valued and even more delighted because he took his time to get that special ring for me. We ended up taking pictures all night with a photographer on site till about 1:20AM.