I first met Talsia at our old job. At the time, I knew she was an awesome woman and wanted to engage with her more. She was pairing with another new staff by the name of Tarniece. I remember one shift her and I worked, we started talking and becoming friends from there. She pretty much found me to be a pain in the butt but she liked the character that I had within me. As time went by, I would offer nights to hang out after work but she would tell me that she can't that she had to work an overnight shift at another location within the agency. I would tell to call out but I tell her too late because she had already agreed to the shift. But that was okay she needed money to make lol. Our friendship grew more. I remember it was during the afternoon when we was both on our way to our shift, she asked me "let me get your phone" and I said sure. I didn't know what she was doing on it but it should have been obvious to me. I kid you not I had realized weeks later she put her number in my phone. I remember sitting on my bed like "how I did not realize this sooner" and she was like soo you are not gonna use my number the next time we saw each other on the bus and I said "what are you talking about" and she replied, "Chris I put my number in your phone weeks ago", and I was like "no you didn't" she says to me, "yes I did check your contacts" so I looked and I found her name and I was like "ohhhhhhhhh" I didn't know that" dummy me lmao. From that point on, we started texting more than calling. We did honestly had one late night call and that was when she was doing an overnight shift.

How I met Chris? That first shift I was pairing with Tarnice (hey girl hey!!) when Chris joined our conversation. At the end of the shift, I called one of my best friends Stacy and clocked out. I was at the bottom of the steps when Chris rushes to the top of the steps to say "Good Night!" I said good night again laughing as I say to Stacy I think he likes me. We both proceeded to laugh and carried on our conversation. Here comes the pestering lol. Chris was very tenacious with his casual pursuit of me. It helped that he was always on the second floor with me. So his constant invitations for us to gave a beer or pizza or something else was always turned down because I had to go to work someplace else lmao. He grew on me though. Stacy thought he was sooo cute, that I should actually give him a chance. She wouldn't shut up about it so the next time I saw him, I asked for his phone. I put my number in it and handed it back. Then nothing..... I mean nothing. NOT ONE WORD! So two weeks later, on the first floor, I asked if he wasn't going to use the number? He looked at me like What? So I left him alone. Three weeks passed, even Stacy started to give up on him (lol) and then I saw him on the Bx12 bus before work. I asked him the same question, so you not gonna use the number? He is like what number? My number clearly. He proceeded to tell me that he didn't have my number, so I told him to check his phone. That's when it dawned on him and he used it right then and there. and the rest they say is history!

The way our first date began was I was working an evening shift and I was sitting by my good friend Tamara. She was handling some accounting things and Talsia sent me a text message thru Whatsapp. Tamara noticed her name and then she told me "Chris I'm set you up on a first date with Talsia". I was cheesing. I was planning on asking her out on my reply but Tamara beat me to the thought lol. The first date was set for the next day and we met up at Central Park North 110th St. We started walking through the park and let me tell you we walked lmaooo and then we sat down for a while to take a break and on that bench we had our very first kiss. After the breather we took, we walked some more. We reached 69th and Columbus and we stopped at a book store. Talsia has a love for books. I saw she was into literature. Then from there we walked more and we ended up in 86th street and we went to bar for some food and beer. We did however wanted to go to a movie but we changed our minds and then we started to head back uptown. It was a memorable first date and we decided to do date #2. This time at dave and busters.

The build up to the first date was REAL! Chris was more bold before we started talking lmao! Then one evening my doing an evening shift and Chris seems bolder than usual. He was always able to make me life but this time I was smiling at his boldness that seemed to come on suddenly. Oh well I was excited. Got off the train at 110th and Central Park North and called him. He says he is in SUBWAY eating a sandwich and I should meet him there lol. good thing he was finishing when I walked in. Let the walking commence! We walked from 110th to 69th street and Columbus Ave and back again! We did take a small break in the park talking about everything under the sun, when he leaned in an kissed me! It was so sweet. I was happy when he let me convince him to let me go into a bookstore. I think he saw me in a new light but I was trying not to show my nerdy side to hard but I am a sucker for a new book. We started to look for bar so we can grab a beer and some food because we were STARVING after all that walking. It went so well we decided to do it again!

OMG!!!! Our baby boy is on the way. What now? I came home from work and she was lying down in bed and as soon as she saw me, she handed me her pregnancy test and i looked to see if it was positive or negative and then I replied "I only see one line". She says "are you sure? Look again". So I took another look and it showed two lines with more light. His face lit up and that's where our parenting journey began. After 20 hours of labor (I summoned him from work. I didn't care) a few mishaps and a c-section later, a beautiful 8lbs baby boy was born. He got to hold him first. I was soo jealous lol! But our lives haven't been the same since. We had a lot of growing to do and growing we did.

What can I say about this day? We were in the last day of December 2017 and I was working a double that day and I recall telling Talsia that day to head to my mother's house and she said no that it was too cold outside like 18 degrees and that she wanted to stay inside lol. I had the engagement ring with me. After my shift, I went over to my mothers house for a while and then after I headed home. While I was on my way home, I contacted her brother(Andre) and asked him if he still was awake and he told me yes and I asked I need him to record something for me. I told him that I am going to propose to Talsia and that she has no idea about this. We both went downstairs and Talsia was in bed and then and I asked Talsia, "babe stand up real quick" and she says "why" and I said "babe stand up real quick and she replied with why again and I said "babe just do it" and she said "fine alright". From there I told her "babe I love you so much, you mean the world to me and you're my everything", I got down one knee and asked her the famous question, "will you marry me"? and she said "yes!!!!!"