We met on May 7, 2018. At the time, I didn’t know that one orientation, one job, one summer could change my whole life. I was sitting a lunch, and a friend told me she knew someone who would be applying for the Fire Cadet Program, like me and she said “His name is Dashaun”. Knowing at the time there were over 500+ applicants, I brushed it off because what are the chances!? I went to orientation without even knowing that he was accepted into the program, never even knowing what he looked like but as I passed by him in the hallway, something told me “that’s him”. He never believes me when I say it, but he stood out. In every room, it’s not hard to find him, he shines. His presence lights every room he steps into. He has eyes you could drown in, and smile you could fall into. I took notice, but I was in situationship on and off at this point and so I kept it pushing ! I asked if he was Dashaun and with that sparkle in his eyes he introduced himself, and so did I, also explaining how I knew his name ! He never once said he already knew who I was lol. The program started about a month later and throughout the whole summer, he didn’t show any interest outside of what we were, friends ! (Or so I thought !) At the beginning, I remember people calling me over to his table, and they asked him who he liked… and he says this other girls name, so im like BET COOL. At some point, he asked for my Snapchat, and we would talk, but this man would send a message and reply HOURS later. So again, I’m like “he’s not pressed, neither am I” we are just friends, plus to my knowledge he liked someone else ! But in the last few weeks of the program, things started to change. At this point the situationship, is done and this man started following me EVERYWHERE lol. (Kidding !). but he would throw in a subtle compliment every now again, He’d leave his work shirt on purpose knowing I’d take it home, have it washed and ironed. I remember him posting my work ID on his Snapchat story and our girls group chat going crazy ! Despite his slow response, I started rushing to the phone hoping every text tone was from him. Still I was unsure because one thing about me, if you don’t come up to me and say something, I will make no assumptions. Im a lover girl, who had her heart mishandled one time too many, but I was drawn to him. He was kind, funny without ever being mean, he was a leader, always pushing everyone to their best, even me, yall that smile… would make me melt, and still does lol, he was smart, always at the top of our class, and always optimistic. The last day of the program we had a field day against the police cadets. All my friends are telling me he likes me, but I’m like he sure is waiting until the last minute to say something ! And so when a girl asked me was he single and I told her “YES”, because he didn’t anything to me STILL. So being funny, I go and give him the number, knowing he would have to either make a move, or move right on out the way. And guess what he did…. MADE THAT MOVE !!!! After telling me that I was “sick and that I knew he liked me” of course lol, he kissed me (sorry dad :)) lol. Did I mention… my dad was our boss !? I was most definitely weak in the kneessss ! At that point I don’t think he even officially asked me to be his girlfriend, we both just knew lol. Later that day, we all went to the art museum downtown where he will say “that was our first date, and where he asked me to be his girlfriend. FALSE ! (And yall know I have the evidence to prove it lol) We went on our very first date the weekend after that at winton woods park. That’s when I learned he couldn’t swim, he kept that life jacket on the whole boat ride ! That same night, is the night of our first “I love yous” YUP HE SAID IT FIRST YALL ! and thats how I met the man, greater than my dreams.

I would like to tell you all what really happened when I met the love of my life! It was a nice afternoon day during the spring, I was just finishing hooping with the guys, and I went to go check my phone as I was getting ready to leave. I happened to open up snap chat , and I happened to land on my cousins. That’s when I saw the prettiest woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on ! This woman had clear brown skin , her hair was up in a bun with curls dropping, her teeth was pearly white and her eyes , man oh man her eyes as she looked at that camera , I said to myself , “I GOT TO GET WITH HER!” I took action immediately! I swiped up on my cousins story and said “put me on with your friend!” Man my cousin tells me “ no she has a man!” I replied and said, “man forget that , I know for a fact can’t nobody love and treat her good like I can!” But y’all my cousin was player hating lol. So month’s went by and I applied to be a Cincinnati Fire Cadet and got accepted. Everyone had to go downtown for orientation, and to fill out paperwork. I was talking to people, trying to introduce myself as I saw this Gorgeous woman appear in front of me again, walking down the hallway, with the curls and this time she had glasses on! All I could say to myself was, “To God be the glory, I got this whole program to shoot my shot!”. And when I shoot , I don’t miss lol. So as she approached the table that I was sitting at, she said hey and introduced herself to me and a couple of other coworkers. Now I knew I had the whole summer to get to know this beautiful woman. So I decided to take it slow and see if she would really be the one that God had placed for me. During orientation I had gotten familiar with a group of guys and she got close with a group of girls. Now we were all aligning ourselves to see who would date who. So me and a couple of other guys liked her, but I knew for sure that she was gonna be mine. So during our first break , the girls came over to us in the hallway and one of my current school friends that was in the program asked me who did I like. Now I seen how some of the guys already said Taija and then I seen one of our lieutenant’s snooping around to get information from us. Now the reason I didn’t say Taija out loud, because our lieutenant was close friends with lieutenant Davis and I figured out that was her dad lol. So I said another girls name just to be funny . Come to find out Taija was a little salty by that lol. So I knew then, she most definitely liked me. So as weeks went by i was watching to see how she carried herself. I’m really picky when it comes to finding who I wanted to date, because I date to marry. Now I seen how she was super caring , always helping , very supportive and ambitious! It made me smile from ear to ear. So after work , me and the guys would wait for the girls to come downstairs, but I had to get this woman snap chat before I left. Time went on and I was about to finalize the deal with her because the program was almost over. We had a huge event called the police vs fire field day. So I watched to see if anyone else caught eye but instead she did the unthinkable! Some female on the police cadet asked her if I was single and wanted my number and she gave it to her !! She said “I told her you was single and gave her your snap chat and his her number as well!” All I could do was look at Taija and I said, “ yeah you’re done!” and I started to walk away and Taija kept walking towards me, pushing me and kept saying, “what you mean I’m done, what did I do!?” I then grabbed her and told her hand, “Now you know good and well I like you!” She responded, “Well you didn’t act like it! How am I supposed to know!” All I could say was, “Well now you know!” And I gave her a kiss and went into one of the vans. So we had our graduation and it was time to make her my girlfriend! A group of us cadets went out to the art museum downtown, and that’s when I asked her will she be my girl and the rest was history from there !