It was a late morning in June of 2013, I was on my way to run an errand before my summer class when I was approached in the parking lot of my apartment complex by a handsome young man. He was wearing a white wife-beater, black basketball shorts, and drove a dilapidated black Honda Accord. He started with “Hey, how are you? I just stopped because I think you are beautiful. What’s your name?”. I reluctantly replied “Tennian or Tennie. What’s your name?”. When he said Michael Jackson, I laughed and said, “no way!”. He had to produce some documentation that showed his name was indeed Michael Jackson. He asked for my number and I denied it to him until we had a conversation. Our first conversation flowed very easily. We talked about music, school, where I am from, and I even sang him a few notes. At the end of our conversation, I decided to give him my number. You would think after our great conversation he would be ecstatic to call or text me as soon as he could. However, it was not the case. About a month went by and I never heard from Michael. I tried searching for him on social media when I did not hear from him, but he was a hard guy to find. I thought to myself, maybe he did not like me as much as I thought, time to let it go and move on. Then one July afternoon, I was heading to the dumpster in our apartment complex when Michael was driving by. He noticed me and stopped. I smiled and said “Hey you, I expected to hear from you!”. He responded with a list of several reasons why he did not reach out to me. He left saying I will text you for sure. As soon as he left, I received a few messages and missed call from him. It made me happy, but I was a little scared because I did not know what to expect.

The next day, which was a Thursday afternoon, I ran into him again when I returned home from class and he was heading to Walmart. We stayed in the parking lot, talking for hours. We said goodbye many times but never actually ended the conversation. It was until night fell that we finally, yet reluctantly said goodbye. On Friday afternoon, he texted me that since he did not get to go to Walmart the day before, he was about to go and asked me to accompany him. I quickly got dressed and rushed outside to meet him. To this day, I consider that trip to Walmart our first date. We walked through the aisles, talking about what food items we like and did not like, and held hands for the first time. Every night since that Friday, we would meet at the apartment complex pool and just talk, laugh, and smile for hours. Our cheeks hurt from the laughter and smiles, but we didn’t mind the pain. We would not say goodbye till 3am. Michael one night surprised me by learning the lyrics to one of my favorite songs “So high” by John Legend. A few weeks later, he moved to another apartment complex but that didn't stop our nightly routine. He would come to pick me up every day before work so we could get mango smoothies from Kim’s Teahouse. He didn't care that he was late almost every day for work. He wanted to spend as much time with me as he could before I left for college in Austin. On a red couch at Kim’s Teahouse, on July 30th, 2013, Michael asked me to be his girlfriend. I didn't make it easy for him the same way I didn't make it easy when he first asked for my number. I laid out my expectations first. Then, when we stood up to leave so he could head to work, he said “You haven't answered my question”. I smiled and said “Yes, I will be your girlfriend”. I could tell he was relieved and happy. Michael and I have spent 8 glorious years to together. Cheers to us conquering life together. Cheers to our future adventures. Cheers to us being together till death to us part!