When and how our love story began depends on who you ask but I think we both agree that our love story truly took shape in London in 2016. We both traveled to London to see the Redskins play. I was there to celebrate one of my best friend's birthdays and Derrick was there to see his favorite team win. My girlfriends and I went to a bar to meet up with some friends from DC and Derrick happened to be with the group of friends we were meeting. Derrick casually approached me and asked to buy me a drink. I remember him being very cool and confident and never making me feel crowded. It was a really fun night. There was a lot of laughter, whiskey, and chemistry and not much has changed since then. A few days later, we had our first kiss in Paris on Derrick's birthday. The rest is history. Our meeting was magical and something I am consistently thankful for. I was blessed that my best friend and soulmate found me at a bar over 3,000 miles away from where we lived. xoxo
The First Meeting: Anovia and I originally met at a music and arts event in DC in 2011. This version of the initial meeting between us is only truly remembered by myself and David aka (Dave) Harris. The story goes like this, during this event, I was causally walking around when I noticed this beautiful and stunning young lady. I knew from the first glimpse of her, I had to go introduce myself. The young lady said her name was Anovia. How could I ever forget a beautiful name like that?! The other thing I vividly remember when first meeting Anovia was how genuine of a person she is and how she can easily connect with anyone. Anovia has such a warm and congenial spirit and I felt it the first moment we met. I introduced myself to her, we started talking and I actually brought her to meet my friends I was there with: Dave, Terrance, Dale, and maybe Cj was there too. That was basically it, we exchanged numbers but I never called because my life was very complicated during that time. The Second Meeting: Fast forward to 2016, I am heading to Europe with Dave. It was a birthday trip for me, combined with the Redskins also playing in London the weekend prior to my birthday. Dave and I had planned to bounce around Europe after attending the Redskins game. On our first night out in London, some guys we were with were going to a bar to meet-up with some other fellow DC folks (girls) that were also in town for the game. When we all arrived at the bar, I immediately recognized Anovia who was there with her friends. I knew at that moment that this was my second chance. I offered to buy Anovia a drink from the bar and we spent the rest of the night talking and hanging out with our friends. It should also be noted that our trips aligned up so that we were both in Paris at the same time on my birthday. The plan was for all of us to party at this nightclub in Paris on my birthday and their last night in Europe. Shout-out to Courtney for getting Dave and I in the club when we were stranded at the door, lol. Meeting Anovia (again) 3,000 miles away from home, when we both lived 6 miles away from each other in DC, is something that I truly believe was meant to be. God provided me another to opportunity to meet and get to know Anovia and that’s something that I will never take for granted.