In November of 2013, Sylvester Jr. (Sly) and I met through Shakeera, who is a mutual friend of us both. A couple of hours before meeting Shakeera briefly described to me the two friends from her school I would be meeting that evening. Shakeera described Sylvester as a gentleman with an old soul and a lover of music. With friends calling him Sly, I immediately pictured the guy arriving at this night out would be wearing a button-up shirt, dress pants, and a bowtie. Hysterically, laughing on the inside that my imagery was correct Sylvester arrived wearing, a button-up shirt, dress pants and a bowtie with a scarf due to it being a cold November evening. Though the lounge we all went to was not what was expected, that evening was the beginning of a true friendship that would grow into so much more.

 Not exchanging numbers when we first met, Sylvester and I would see each other at different events and would eventually exchange numbers months later. An as the years went we continued to get to know each other with miles in between us. Sylvester moved to North Carolina and I remained in Virginia. Through many phone calls, Facetime conversations and other apps, we developed a friendship that progressed into a love for one another and officially began dating April 22, 2016. After a year and three months of dating on July 29, 2017, Sylvester proposed and here we are!

Now here's my side of the story...

The crew, Shakeera, Josh and myself, decided to go out in town one evening in Richmond, VA. Shakeera mentioned that she would be inviting her friend/coworker. In my mind the more the merrier. That evening I arrived at Shakeera's house dressed and ready to go. I sat on the couch waiting for the ladies to get ready and before I knew it, I saw this Beautiful girl with a black dress come to the front room. Shakeera introduced Kayla and we greeted each other casually and continued to wait. She didn't look too interested so I continued to play it cool like I do lol

As time goes on and the crew continues to hang out and Kayla would now join us more often and within our regular hangouts we would grow a friendship.

As college came to an end and I move to Charlotte, NC we maintained contact. We would speak every once in a while. That once in a while would become once a week and before you know it every day. We would later start to have long phone calls and video calls. Our now strong friendship started to flourish into something more.

Though feelings grew I wasn't sure the timing was right. A whole year went by as we continued to speak daily and she continued to be patient with me as I slowly decided when the time was right... 

After a conversation and confirmation from God, I finally asked her to be My Girl. She said "OK" (that's a funny story as well for another day)

A year and some change later here we are and I'm excited!

And that's all I gotta say about that