We are so excited to celebrate with our closest family and friends.

We met at a Cigar lounge for one of our closest friend's birthday, James Brooks. My Twin sister Yanessy asked me to join her as she met up with a couple of friends she hadn't seen in over a year. I quickly jumped out of my bed and put on leather tights, a brick orange long sleeve blouse, and my fashion hat. I felt like a million dollars. Once we arrived at the Cigar lounge, a read bearded man asked to take my coat. I was impressed! directly after that interaction, I was paired off with Vance Lewis in order for my sister and her friends to catch up without me interrupting them. Vance and I talked about space, stars, and galaxies for the entire evening. As I was conversing, I felt someone staring at me. When I looked up, to my surprise, I saw Stephen staring back at me. When it was time to leave the cigar lounge and go to a club downtown, Yanessy shared with us she was not feeling well and was going to take a cab home. I was the off of work the next day and did not want to go home. I looked at Martin. My face showed I did not want to go home. Martin understood what I wanted to do through my facial expression. Martin asked Yanessy if I could join his party at the club downtown. He asked to order a cab for Yanessy home while him and Stephen hosted me at the club. Yanessy agreed. However, threaten both Martin and Stephen that if anything happened to me, it would be a problem. The only ask was for me to get home safe. At the club, Stephen and Vance ordered me a glass of wine. Chivalry was not dead that night! The music was playing the moment we entered. Somehow, once I had a glass of wine in my hand, the music got better and we all got on the dance floor with our drinks. As we were dancing, another male took my fashion hat. I was confused and did not understand why. I had walked towards Stephen on the dance floor and asked him to retrieve my hat back. He gladly accepted and delivered. A couple minutes after, we were both back on the dance floor. We were moving our should, I was shaking my hips, and all our hands were in the air. Later that night, Stephen moved his dancing onto the couches. He has a hookah in his hand, his other hand in the air, and was hyping the crowd. As the end of the night was approaching, Stephen ordered me a taxi. As we waited, we talked about the night. While he walked me to the taxi, right before I entered the car, I turned to him and asked him to brunch the following day. He accepted. I will never forget the smile on his face. We exchanged numbers, and as soon as I got home, I texted him. The next day, Stephen declined his friends ride back to Philadelphia. Instead, he stayed in Brooklyn in order to go to El Toro for brunch. Stephen and Yaritza's first date was at El Toro for brunch with her twin sister.

It was an regular weekend day for me. I woke up early (which I hate doing) and decided I was not going to wash my hair. I had arrived late the night before and just wanted to relax. Yanessy asked me if I was going to wash my hair, and when I said "no" she yelled "So you are going to let your hair stink? You nasty!". As soon as she finished sharing what she thought, I got up and made my way to the bathroom to start washing my hair. As I was washing my hair I sang my favorite songs from Elevation-worship. I remembered the night before I was watching the Notebook and prayed my red head Noah would finally propose. In the middle of me singing (it was the best vocals I had hit in my life) I hear Yanessy saying "Hurry up! I thought you wanted to take family photos with Zion today!". I suddenly remembered I asked for the same family photos she was mentioning through her bathroom door. I quickly grabbed my towel, dried my hair, used gel to style it into a bun, and put on a white blouse with light ripped jeans. I was comfortable. Yanessy opened her room door and asked me if I wanted to wear heels. I instantly thought to myself "no Yanessy and you know that !" but still I agreed to wear them anyway. I grab the heels and placed them in a bag to wear at the park. I instead wore a pair of open toe flats. We left Yanessy's apartment and walked down the street to my mother's apartment. As soon as I walked into my mom's apartment, she started to yelling and complain about all of us running late. I kindly remind my mom today was about family and no drama was included. Yanessy asked my mother about Kiana's location (my younger sister). Kiana was on her way, as usual. A couple minutes later, Kiana arrives with our nephew Zion. My mother immediately asks us to "order the Uber". This ask quickly confused me. There is a park about 10 minutes away from us walking, and I was under the impression that was where we all wanted to go. I asked why we needed to order an Uber when the park that was near us was in walking distance. Yanessy insisted in ordering the Uber so that we could go to a park in the heights where her friend from work went to take pictures. Her co-worker said the park was beautiful and that her pictures came out great. I then agreed to go to the park in the heights. In less than five minutes the Uber had arrived and we were all on our way to the park. We ordered an Uber XL, because it was six (6) of us riding together. This also meant I would laugh on my way to the park because Dariana and Kiana were riding with us. My mom started to complain about how hot it was in the car. Yanessy asked her to be quiet because her complaining was causing the car to warm up (her breath) and we all started laughing at once. This annoyed my mother. Once we all got to the park, I was hot, very hot. In the Uber we did not feel the AC because of the covid plexiglass. We were dropped off by the main entrance to the park. After a couple of minutes of walking, I started to get tired because I was carrying Zion in my arms. As we were walking into the park, the sun was brightly shinning everywhere causing no shade within the park. The first photophraphic site I saw at the park I wanted to stop at. It was taking long to find a sport to photograph in, but even longer when you are carrying your nephew. The first spot in the park that I saw with the sun exposure and a bench, is the spot I wanted to use in order to take our family pictures. Yanessy had different plans in mind. When I slowed down to suggest the spot, she quickly said "no, let's walk inside the park where the beautiful arch is".

I had no idea where the arch was in the park. The entire time I was walking, I was ahead because I was hot, wanted to get out the soon, and to the arch as quickly as possible. I knew once we got there, we could get started with the pictures, and then end up back home to rest. As I followed the cobblestone pavement, I slowly approached the arch Yanessy was talking about. it was beautiful. there were flowers on both sides of the arch, and a bench under the shade that I would use when Yanessy started "modeling" for the gram. As soon as we approached the arch, Yanessy turned to me and said "you should start with pictures". At that point I had turned to my mom and said "I hate pictures!". I continued to walk towards the arch and stopped in front of it. There was a garden of flowers to my left and I thought I would use it to take the attention off of me while taking pictures. "I am going to sit here and take the pictures" I said. And then Yanessy said "no, keep walking until you get under the arch". I sighed but continued to do so. once I was under the arch and turned towards my sister and said "okay I am ready". Instantly I saw someone pop out from behind the arch through my left peripheral vision. When I turned my body towards that person I saw Stephen. I was shocked and confused. I did not remember him telling me he was coming to New York. A couple of seconds went by and I noticed what he was wearing, a long sleeve button down and grey slacks with brown shoes. When I look up, I see my cousin, my sisters, and my mother start moving towards my left under the arch. Their faces were joyful with amazement. I still didn't understand what was going on until Stephen walked towards me, grabbed my hands, and pulled me to the center under the arch. "Oh no" I thought. "no, not like this" I said out loud! That was when I realized what was going on. My hair was in a bun, I was in jeans, and I was not presented in the way I would have liked to be for a proposal! When Stephen grabbed my hands, I felt a nervous tremble. He then said "they say when you do this you don't remember what you say". He was not wrong. I can not remember what Stephen said that day. All I remember was the moment he got on one knee, opened the ring box, and showed the statement piece that would be my favorite for the rest of our lives. That afternoon I said "yes" to my future husband. From that moment on, I knew for certain, God had created another human just for me. <3