The story begins when I was 11 and became friends with Melvin, who was 13. We used to talk on the telephone and he gave me his school picture. I had the biggest crush on him (he was my 1 st crush) and used to carry his picture around until it was worn out! Although we never dated, we remained friendly and then I moved from our hometown to Northern Va and our paths did not cross until 30 years later. One evening, I was perusing Facebook and Melvin appeared as someone I may know. I sent him a Friend request, then quickly took it back as I didn’t think he would remember me. A day later, I received a request from him and we started messaging. He told me later he saw the friend request, but then couldn’t find it. He had to go through a mutual friend of ours to locate me. After we messaged with each other for a while, we talked on the phone and a month a half later, met for our first ‘unofficial date’. The rest is history!

Melvin proposed to me on my birthday, December 13, 2016. I knew he had been carrying the ring around, but didn’t know exactly when he planned to propose. We went to the Poconos for my birthday and later that evening, after dinner, as I was relaxing on the sofa, he came out the bedroom and asked to have a minute of my time. He then got on his knees and proposed, saying from the moment he saw me, he knew he wanted to marry me. I cried and said "Yes"!