We met at a barbecue at the beginning of our senior year of high school. The barbecue was at the home of my high school best friend, Rashida. Wes actually saw me the year before, while I was playing in a volleyball game at my school and wanted to meet me. A year later we were the only two singles at this barbecue. It was the beginning of us being attached at the hip and a pretty intense first-love for both of us. We attended one another's proms and cheered as we received our diplomas. We navigated a long distance relationship our first year of college. Alabama to Pennsylvania, on dorm pay-phones and hand-written letters through campus mail boxes eventually proved too much for our nineteen year old selves and we broke up. Actually, neither one of us wanted to break up. It was just what was best for us given our circumstances. We went our separate ways and didn't see one another again. Until.... 24 years later my best friend, Diallo, called me cause he had just passed a car, a mint green Pontiac that looked like the one that my dad used to drive when we were in high-school. At some point in the conversation Malika's name came up. Diallo shared that Malika was one of his FaceBook friends. The next day I sent her a friend request and she accepted. She sent me a message on FB Messenger and talked for a few days just catching up. She says she said "If you ever want to talk to me, here is my number." I recall, "Call me tomorrow, here's my number. Either way, we talked the next night for 4 hours and the night after that and the night after that. We felt early on that we might have something special AGAIN so we spent a lot of time trying to make sure we weren't just being nostalgic about our teenage love. Our first date was Malika's visit to DC for her 25yr high school reunion. The place I first saw her. After the reunion, we decided to give us another chance. Nine months later I moved from DC to Nashville. 3 years later I popped the question!