It all started the evening of May 12, 2015, a day we now call the beginning of forever. That evening, on his way to a work meeting, Isiah received a phone call from his mom, Angel Barber, asking him "when she was going to have grandkids". In an effort to rush his mother off the phone, he told her, “Mom, you need to find me a girlfriend first” and hung up. Lo and behold, this was exactly what Angel wanted to hear and she was up for the task! Mere minutes later, Angel texted Isiah back with a phone number for a girl named Nakicha Jospeh aka Nikki. In shock, Isiah left his meeting right away and called his mom right back telling her that he was joking and asking her who this girl was and where she got her number from? Isiah had so many questions and got no answers from his mom. With his mom not willing to tell him anything, he figured what's the worse that could happen?! Indeed, Isiah followed his gut. He went back to his meeting and decided to send his first text to Nikki. That very same night, after a long tiring day full of twists and turns, Isiah made his first phone call to his future wife, Nikki. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Though we had been getting to know each other through texts and phone calls for a few weeks, we decided not to reveal our appearances to each other until we had a chance to meet in person. On June 20, 2015, we went on our first date, a blind date. Much like our relationship, our first date was filled with twists, turns, laughter, and good conversations. Isiah had arranged for us to meet to play pool. In true Nikki fashion, she was running late (Nikki concedes to being 10 minutes late, while Isiah maintains she was 40 minutes late; who's right?! we'll never know lol). Isiah had gotten there early and with some time to spare, decided to seize the opportunity and get back at Nikki for being late. Prior to Nikki arriving, Isiah tipped the pool hall manager and asked him, "when you see a young lady walk in by herself, have her go to this pool table. Isiah then sent a text to Nikki telling her he was also running late and started playing pool by himself at a table next to the one he directed the manager to send Nikki to. When Nikki arrived, the manager pointed her to the table and she sat down in a chair waiting for Isiah to show. After a few minutes, the guy playing pool by himself walked over to Nikki and asked her if she was waiting for someone. Nikki told her she was waiting for a date. The guy introduced himself as "David", a mechanic from Elizabeth and asked her if she wanted to play a game of pool with him. Knowing something fishy was happening, Nikki decided to play along. After many rounds of questions and playing detective, Nikki was convinced David was Isiah, though Isiah tortured her for nearly an hour before he revealing himself. After pool, we headed to Olive Garden. At dinner we talked about everything under the sun, it was truly a magical night. Every year on June 20th for the past five years, we go back to the same Olive Garden and sit at the same table to celebrate our special first date five years ago.

After taking the bar exam and 5 years of dating, on September 7, 2020, Isiah (finally!) proposed to Nikki at his apartment. Of course, Isiah had to have a trick up his sleeve. After asking Nikki's parents for their blessings in secrecy, he called his former girlfriend and future wife over to his apartment for a talk. Not knowing what he wanted to talk to her about Nikki came (on time!) and sat down at the dining table with him. When Isiah popped the question, little did Nikki know, he had been recording the entire proposal and had set up a zoom call with all their most cherished families and friends watching it live. With his bedroom set up with 60 balloons and candles (one for each month they had been dating) and the words, "she said yes" spelled out on his bed, It was the perfect ending to the perfect love story and the beginning of Mr. and Mrs. Barr! As Nikki put it, she had to pass the Bar, to become Mrs. Barr. Cheers to #RaisingTheBarr We are so excited to start the next chapter of our lives together. We can’t wait to celebrate with you in July!