Every year the Black Lawyer’s Association in Montgomery throws their annual Christmas Party and this year my Link Sister Samarria and her husband Kendall were hosting it at their home. With the party being on a Friday evening, I was reluctant to attend as it had been a long and busy week at work per usual. At the last minute, I decided to just go since one of my girls was going too. The party ended up being a great time and I spent most of it just catching up with friends and discussing holiday plans. After the event began to wind down, a few of us stuck around for the “after-party” and somehow the convo shifted to why I was single. Typical question amongst mixed company most days and I quickly let the guys know that after several awful dates in Montgomery lately, that I was currently planning my exit strategy and hoped to be moving soon. Unbeknownst to me, Arthur’s barber whom I had never met before overheard my comments and thought it would be a good idea to play matchmaker. He knew my grandparents from his time at Alabama State and was also friends with the hosts of the party, but we actually never even spoke that night.
The next day, I received a text from Samarria with a picture of a very handsome guy in a Sigma jacket and was told he had graduated from Alabama A&M and she wanted to know if I was interested in grabbing drinks with him. Turns out, Arthur’s barber had reached out to her husband Kendall in hopes of getting us linked up. I excitedly said yes, only to wait anxiously for what in my mind felt like forever for him to call me. Three days later my phone rings and the voice on the other end proceeds to say, “Hi, my name is Arthur Lamont Peterson the IV and I’m calling to speak to miss Gina Presley” ...needless to say he had me at hello, as most guys in the past would just send a get to know you text first instead of actually calling. We talked on the phone every day after that for hours on end and we ended up going on our first date that Friday.
I’ll never forget my walking out to meet him and when he opened the car door, there were flowers and a card on the seat. I was immediately smitten and he has been surprising me like that ever since!! So glad I decided to go to that party after all and I can’t wait to marry this man!
The story of how we met started on a Saturday morning in December 2016. I was at Heritage barbershop and my Barber "Boo Man" was telling me about this holiday party he had attended the night before. While he was at the party he overheard a young woman stating that there were no good single men left in Montgomery. So he proceeded to describe who she was and asked me if I would be interested in taking her out on a date. Now, it only took me a minute to realize that the woman that he was describing was actually someone I had seen before on Facebook from pictures with a mutual friend that we both have. I thought she was beautiful and had also seen her around Montgomery at different social functions and football games. I also always thought she had a boyfriend because there was no way a woman that beautiful was still single. When I received her phone number that following Monday I was super nervous, so I waited and called her the next day. We had our first date on that Friday and on January 18, 2020, I can’t wait to call her my wife.
Honestly, I never would have thought I’d end up engaged to such an amazing woman. I remember when I had “the talk” with Gina's father on Mother's Day morning back in 2018. He, of course, gave me his blessing and told me how happy he was for us. I really wish I had brought the ring with me at that moment because later in the day we were having brunch with all of our immediate family members and it would have been the perfect time to propose. After that missed window of opportunity, I kept thinking of different ways to propose from throwing a surprise party, to even getting her on stage while at Essence Fest. I ended up reaching out to Miguel’s people who really wanted to help but said the concert organizers wouldn’t allow it due to the time constraints of all the different performers. So I decided to still stick with New Orleans during Essence Fest weekend and made plans for us to go to Jackson Square Park under the guise of taking professional pictures.
Both of our families knew the date I was going to propose, but I didn’t tell anyone when I would do it that day. What was also crazy is that several of Gina's friends were in town as well for Essence Fest, so I had to tell them that I was planning to propose that weekend so they wouldn’t make any plans with her. Friday night we attended the concert and on Saturday we spent most of the day walking around the convention center enjoying all of the Essence Fest events. By that afternoon, Gina was tired and getting “hangry” so we grabbed a late lunch and Gina decides she wants to go to this Daiquiri bar in the French Quarter before we walk to the park to take pictures.
While at the bar, she ends up spilling some of her drink on her dress. Now at this point, she is hot and not in the best picture taking mood LOL. With the help of my cousin and his wife, we are able to talk her into still going to take the pictures. Once we get in position to take the pictures, I had Gina to look out over the park and instead of joining her I got down on one knee behind her. She, of course, is now fussing and wondering why I’m not up there next to her...so she turns around in complete shock and that is when I asked her if she would marry me. Thank God she said YES!!