Ring In The New Year With Our Wedding

Since our sons were just 5 and 6 years old, they played football together and ran track together. A norm for our families was that we always ended the day with a meal. So, it was always a running joke about where we were going to eat. Although our sons' football and track years together ended, we still kept in contact as families via the kids' milestones, life changes, and other moments. Fast forward to 2022 and our now grown kids were working together part-time at BJ's and Shaneeka gave Austin a graduation card. When he shared that with Rico, Rico text Shaneeka to say thank you and Shaneeka text back "Where's my dinner"--referring to Rico having missed her doctoral dinner and his saying he would treat her to another dinner to celebrate her real estate license (Shout out to Rico for giving Shaneeka two of her first real estate clients). Rico acknowledged that he owed her a dinner and asked Shaneeka where did she and the other friend want to go. Shaneeka, of course, said a steakhouse. After several texts back and forth, Rico said we could go without the friend and Shaneeka agreed not knowing what was to come and with no expectation other than to catch up with a good friend. The dinner was delicious; the conversation was even better. After consulting with a friend, two days later (June 27, 2022 to be exact), Rico text Shaneeka, sharing how he enjoyed the conversation and wanted to get to know her more on a personal level but didn't want to make her uncomfortable or for it to be awkward. Shaneeka, with her sassiness, said "I'm flattered you want to get to know me on a more personal level even though you know a lot of personal stuff about me already lol." From there, Rico planned our first date and we have been inseparable ever since!