The year was 2005, and we both arrived as starry eyed freshmen on the campus of Hampton University...and that's pretty much it. We spent 4 years as distant acquaintances with a few mutual friends who brought us together from time to time. Fast forward to 2010 -- we had both left HIU in our rear view mirrors and moved to complete opposite sides of the world (and by world I mean the USA). Enter stage left -- the wonders of the Internet. We reconnected via many Twitter interactions, which led to Gchat conversations and eventually real life phone calls *gasp*. By 2011, we were cementing our newfound love (or extreme like) with drinks on the parade route at Mardi Gras, which is a completely smart and extremely logical way to start a relationship.
First of all, lots of people warned us about the perils and pitfalls of long distance. Naturally, we ignored their sage advice and embarked on a 2.5 year long distance relationship. A mixture of frequent phone calls, infrequent FaceTiming (due to one party's absolute hate of pictures...I won't tell you who), day long gchats and many hours on airplanes resulted in a relationship that was stronger than ever going into 2013. Despite the difficulties that came with 3000 miles and a 3 hour time difference, we managed to fall deeper in love and have a great time while we were at it.
By mid 2013, the long distance thing was getting old and so was New York (after 3 bad winters and 2 hurricanes, Michele was over it). On Memorial Day weekend, we packed up Michele's Brooklyn apartment, bid farewell to the big city and boarded a flight with one-way tickets to sunny (just kidding...exceedingly foggy and kind of chilly) San Francisco, California to start life together in one place (finally!!!).
On June 14, 2014, we dressed for a Saturday day date. We had decided we were going to take the day to ride around the city and take in some of the scenes and sites that we had never taken the time to explore (or so Michele thought). Coincidentally, it was a gorgeous, clear day (a rarity in San Francisco during the summer). We spent the morning traipsing all over the Bay, taking it all in. By 2pm though, Hangry Michele (hungry and therefore angry) made her appearance. We rushed to get food with Julian insisting on takeout, which only made Hangry Michele more irritated. Hangry Michele disappeared though when we walked down the dock with food in hand and were greeted by a kindly man who ushered us onto a yacht. As the yacht toured the beautiful San Francisco Bay, Julian asked me to marry him (not on one knee...because it's a boat and nobody needs to drown for tradition), and I immediately said yes. Later that evening we went out to a fancy dinner (white table cloths!!!) and celebrated the occasion with our Bay Area friends amid champagne and chocolate strawberries. The last few months have been a blur, but we're excited to celebrate our union with you all and the best is yet to come! See you in October!