We're getting married!

Friday, November 12, 2021 5:00PM Sandals Montego Bay Resort, Jamaica

Anthony caught my attention for the first time during a Pelicans vs. Warriors game at Oracle. While sitting court-side watching the Warriors warm up, Anthony approached my friend and I. He introduced himself and gave us club passes! My friend asked if I knew him from somewhere. I said "Nope. He's cute though". He found us again at the end of the game and after some conversation we realized we had mutual friends and would be at the same party later that evening. Fast forward to later that night - I see him at the party and I couldn't stop staring. He looked GOOD. The following day, I realized we were in the same Group Chat (another coincidence), so I messaged him (in front of everyone) letting him know he was cute and asked "so when are you taking me on a date?". Unfortunately, he turned me down. HA! But he did still ask for my phone number. We proceeded to text and he almost immediately changed his mind about that date! He took me out that same week....and now we're getting married.

Bruh, Erica is a cat. I met her a couple of times before, but I didn’t expect her to remember either of those interactions. The first was a brief exchange at an Urban League Auction Night. I didn’t dress up because I knew I was just swinging by to say hi to a few people and leaving right after. I saw her on my way out, said hi, then left. Dassit. The second time was on a New Year’s Boat Party where unlimited alcohol was included (aka Booze Cruise!!). You aren’t doing the cruise right if some of the night isn’t hazy. HOWEVER, we had been in the same GroupMe chat for a while and interacted on there, but she swears she didn’t even know that. When our mutual friend that I worked with at the Warriors told me she was coming to the game, I made sure to have a haircut and put on my freshest grey suit. At the game, I reintroduced myself, dropped off the passes and tried to make THIS interaction memorable. I had ZERO intention of going to that party before I went to work that day, but once Erica said she was going, I changed my tune REAL quick. Guess it worked out right?

My guidance in finding the ring was in good hands because of my wonderful consultants Destiny, Morgan and Vanessa. Momma Tracee has loved me from the very beginning, so I had no worries about receiving her blessing. I just had to figure out how to set the stage for the proposal during a COVID Labor Day Weekend. Erica’s family and my mom were present for lunch, but I wanted more of my family there without making it obvious a proposal was going down. My brother’s family was looking for a new house, so it was conceivable that they would be out at an open house. After “looking at a house nearby” they “stopped by” to say hi. With parents, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews present, it was only right to make a toast. I didn’t have a speech prepared but I had an idea of what to say. However, all of that went out the window and the nerves (and possibly the drinks) took over. Fortunately, she had no idea and with us standing at the front of the table, I kind of just gave her a look, we laughed and then I got down on one knee. Her laughter transformed into tears of joy and I asked her to marry me. She eventually said yes after gathering her emotions and that’s when 2020 started to turn around.