I had heard through the grapevine that James liked me. A mutual friend mentioned it to me and he had his own little way of flirting with me. But, he was a coworker and I’ve never dated a coworker so I wasn’t quite sure how that would work out and if I even wanted to go there. On top of that I was fresh out of a relationship and was quite honestly looking forward to being single. My birthday had just passed and he mentioned that he wanted to treat me to a birthday lunch. But the days flew by, Thanksgiving happened, and his lunch invite turned into a happy hour invite. So on Friday, November 30, 2012 we went to happy hour at Ruth’s Chris in Bethesda, MD. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Was this a date? A happy hour amongst friends? I didn’t know. But we ate, drank, and talked for HOURS. And it soon became clear to me that this was a date and I was loving every second of it. Who was this man? And where the heck was he hiding? Right under my nose…clearly. We literally sat and talked for about 6 hours and would still probably be there if the restaurant wasn’t closing. He took me home and I had butterflies. I couldn’t stop thinking about him, our conversation and the possibilities. I remember calling one of my best friends and telling her how great of a time I had. She immediately asked if he would be my boyfriend soon. Maybe? But let’s slow down. Having a boyfriend wasn’t at the forefront of my mind. But God (and my best friend) had other plans. And, we’ve been inseparable ever since.
It was a few days before my birthday in April 2016 and we decided we would hit the streets, go shopping, check out some new restaurants, visit friends & family, karate chop albino monkeys, stand on the left side of the escalator-- basically whatever came to mind. I just wanted to be with her. They say birthdays bring perspective and they ain’t never lied. Ever since I’ve been with Sydney my quality of life has gotten better every year. I got “upgraded.” So, as I’m thinking of my birthday plans, I couldn’t get one of my favorite songs out of my head – Daley ft. Marsha Ambrosius “Alone Together.” I immediately looked down to my hand to make sure I wasn’t tripping (anybody who knows me knows why I did that). Then it hit me like Jill Scott did to ol’ boy in “Why Did I Get Married”….we need to go ring shopping! At this point I’ve already known I wanted to marry Sydney for a long time so there was no hesitation. But I have a princess of a fiancée and she deserves way more than the “just pick what you want” approach. That’s one of the many reasons why I love her. She knows what she deserves and won’t accept anything less. Now I must find a way for her to pick out a ring she likes without being too obvious so I suggest we go to the mall. We get to the mall and I make sure we park near the jewelry store. While we’re walking she’s not really paying attention to anything until we get closer to the jewelry store. That’s when I noticed her eyes were becoming more and more focused on the bling! I’m smiling like the “Alice in Wonderland” cat in my head because I know I got her. Then I say with the annoyed look on my face “You want to go in there don’t you?” She bats them big beautiful brown eyes and says yes. I’m still acting like I’m bothered and say “Even though it’s MY birthday, let’s go.” As selfish as everyone is on their birthday, even then I was only thinking about her. She tried on a couple of rings and a few months later I got her one of her own.
It was Christmas Eve 2016, James was out running errands and had to pick up something from my parents' home. He insisted that he go alone. It seemed a little suspicious but I didn’t think too much of it. While he was still out running errands, he called me and asked if I wanted to go to Capital Grille for dinner that night. I really was exhausted and feeling under the weather but I had been wanting to go to Capital Grille for some time so I figured I could muster up some energy and agreed. When he came home, he suggested that we get dressed up for dinner. This peaked my spidey senses but James and I love dressing up so it wasn’t too out of the ordinary. He then suggested that I wear a sequin dress. In my mind, I’m thinking… “He wants me to wear THIS dress to dinner? Tonight MUST be the night!” LOL We go to dinner and everything is normal. He then goes into a long spiel about how he spoke to my dad earlier that day and asked for my hand in marriage. And how he’s getting his ducks in a row so he can be ready soon…just not right now. So now I’m annoyed because I just wasted this cute dress on a regular dinner and got my hopes up for nothing. We finished our meal and he paid the bill. And still NOTHING. He was getting up to go to the restroom and before I knew it he was down on one knee! Needless to say my disappointment quickly turned into extreme happiness. I couldn’t even tell you what he said next because it was all a blur after that. All I knew was that my man was asking me to marry him and I was the happiest girl in the world. On Christmas Eve no less! He got me good!