On the day of our third year anniversary we attended a wedding.  Josh was ready to go about an hour before we had discussed being ready. Then everyone started rushing me! I finished getting ready and went to the wedding. I was told before we went to the reception we need to go back by the house because my mom needed to grab something. While we were there Josh insisted that we should take pictures. I did not want to take pictures, only go and eat, but I decided to give in and take pictures since we were both dressed up.

In the midst of taking pictures Josh hands me a box of chocolates and a card for our anniversary.  I read the card and take the chocolates and told him how much I loved them.  I really only like fruit filled chocolate so I sat the chocolate down and began to walk away. Josh said wait I want a piece of chocolate.  For those of you that know Josh, you know that he hates chocolate, so I was excited when he said he wanted chocolate. If Josh said he wanted some chocolate, I was thinking it must be some really great chocolate, so I wanted some as well. I was struggling to get the ribbon off the box, and when I finally did I was thinking that it was kind of lopsided.  Josh quickly took the top off the box and revealed the ring box within the chocolate. I wanted to scream and get really excited but I suppressed my feelings just in case it wasn’t a ring, so I wouldn’t embarrass myself. I asked “is it earrings?” Instead of answering me he dropped down to one knee and proposed. I was laughing,  clapping (like a baby seal), and overjoyed. I must admit I was upset that my nails were not painted, because I made him promise that when he proposed he would make sure my nails were painted. I did give him a hard time about my nails although I am glad he didn’t hold back the proposal over my nails, keeping me away from that ring. The ring was a beautiful representation of our commitment to one another and went perfectly with the beautiful moment.

During my second day at ODU, I went to my second class of the day, operations management. As classes ended I received a call from a friend (Hey Terra!) asking about my first week of school. I was walking up the rows out the door, and he was walking down the rows, we passed each other and said “Hi”. I told Terra “it has been pretty boring so far, but they sure have some fine black men here!” Over the next three months we continued to run into each other through mutual friends. I befriended him on Facebook after seeing him on a friend’s page (Hey Shane!) and even got to know him a little better after my first new friend and sorority sister (Hey Sade!) would take me with her to the village to visit mutual friends of theirs. He was ALWAYS in the village when we went, later I found out he was greek and they were his line brothers, so It all made sense.

After a few months of seeing each other occasionally there was huge Nor’Easter in Norfolk, Va. There were only a few places that had complete power, and places that had emergency power. Luckily Sade had emergency power, and I had complete power.  We spent most of the day and early evening in the hallways of Sade’s dorm laughing and talking under the dim emergency lights with all of our friends. We all went to eat at Ihop later that night, since the dining halls were close, and it was there I received a text. “This is Josh, save my number.” I know Shane ratted me out, telling Josh I thought he was cute. I must admit I was upset that he gave him my number instead of making him have to ask me for it (I finally forgive you Shane). That night, when everyone started going their separate ways as most people had emergency power at this point, Josh was the only one still without power because he lived off campus. Everyone else was going to their significant others house, or to their family’s house that did not live on campus, but Josh had neither.  I invited him back to watch movies with my roommate and I (Hey Courtney), since we were one of the few with complete power due to our generator and could actually watch tv and also had heat. From that point on we were inseparable. From the beginning we both knew our friendship would be special and full of great memories, it is no surprised that we are on the path to forever.

The date was May 18, 2013 exactly three years after we started dating; I decided to pop the big question. On this day we were in Hampton, VA for T’Nora’s uncle’s wedding. So I decided to go to the local grocery store to get food for breakfast. However, my real goal that morning was to buy a box of chocolate to hide the engagement ring in for the proposal.  When I arrived to the grocery store I found T’Nora’s favorite box of candy. But, there was one problem, the box was wrapped and sealed in plastic. So if I was to tamper with the packaging she would know I was up to something. So I grabbed a random box of candy that I was able to open without the box looking like it was tampered with. The initial goal was for me to propose to her before we went to the wedding. However, that plan failed, because T’Nora took all morning and a day to get her makeup ready causing us to behind schedule, so I had to put the proposal on hold.

After the ceremony we had some down time before the reception started, so we went back to her mother’s house. While at the house I convinced T’Nora to take pictures with me since we both were dressed up and it was the anniversary of us becoming a couple. While we took the pictures her mother (who knew about the proposal) switched the camera from photo mode to video mode. This is when I sprang into action. I told T’Nora I had a gift for her and handed her the box of chocolate. She said thank you and proceeded to put the box on the couch and head out the door. See what the problem was that the box I ended up buying to put the ring in happened to be her least favorite type of chocolate. So I had to think fast, I asked her to give me a piece before we left. Only problem is that I hate chocolate so she started to look at me funny. So I repeated “Can I have a piece of chocolate”. She then opened the box and I pulled out the ring and dropped to one knee and asked her to marry me. But before she could even answer I had already put the ring on her finger. Let’s be honest I was too nervous. So the next day I proposed again and that time I waited for her to say YES!