We're getting married!

We met 23 years ago when Znaador moved to Newark, NJ from Liberia with his family. They moved to the Colonnades, a 22-story apartment building, where I'd already been living. Since I was already good friends with Znaador's cousins who also lived there, our becoming friends was easy. I distinctly remember him asking me to be his girlfriend, not long after we became friends. I was at the laundromat, and I remember Znaador wearing this oversized army fatigue jacket. When he asked me, I turned him down. When I (often) recall this story to him, he says it never happened, though I know it did because I was there. We remained good friends throughout our teenage years, though we didn't first date until after we'd finished college. Znaador returned to NJ from Charlotte, NC, and I'd always been in NJ. We were both just starting out in our careers when Znaador pursued me again. After one (or five) false starts, we finally hit it off, and the rest is history.

The day started off somewhat like a typical Saturday. One of Znaador's best friends was visiting from out of town, and they were going out for breakfast. Meanwhile, I was heading out to meet up with my mom, sister, and friend to attend a cooking class. We ended up being out for some time after the cooking class, stopping by a garden to pick up produce, doing lunch, and shopping at Ikea. We all decided to head back to my house to hang out afterward, which I was looking forward to. When we got to the house, I opened the door and was immediately stunned. There were about 20 people in my living room that I knew were not there when I'd left that morning! lol I just remember having to process their faces one by one and realizing they were all loved ones, friends and family. Some of them had their phones out. Some of them were just smiling. There was a song playing. I couldn't make it out but could feel it was a song of love. The house was decorated with gold and purple balloons. I could smell food. And there he was. Znaador came to me, took my hand, and brought me into the living room. He got down one one knee and asked me to marry him. I said yes!