Another Sunday was upon us with a scheduled Umu Igbo Unite (UIU)-Atlanta meeting. I looked forward to such meetings for the opportunity to meet new people, but this Sunday was special. During introductions at the meetings, each attendee says their name and which state in Nigeria they are from. That Sunday I noticed a few new faces in the crowd; one of them was a beautiful woman who stood and introduced herself as "Claudia from Anambra State." I was immediately intrigued as I am also from Anambra. I approached her later in the meeting to personally introduce myself and welcome her to the group. After chatting with her, I found out that not only is Claudia from my home state, but she is also from the same village. The coincidence seemed too good to be true. We exchanged numbers and kept in touch, but our busy schedules didn't allow us to really see each other much initially as interview season for residency had just begun for me and Claudia was very busy with her research. We would see from time to time at social events, and each time I wanted to make plans to ask her out but my schedule wouldn't allow. Finally with Christmas around the corner I was able to take her out and we had a great time. More chatting revealed that not only were we from the same state and the same village, but that our families are actually very close. We both traveled to Nigeria that Christmas and volunteered to deliver goods to orphanages as part of the UIU-Atlanta Igboland project. I took full advantage of the opportunity to spend time with Claudia and her family over the Christmas break. I particularly loved how close she was with her family and how respectful and comfortable she was with mine. We carried the momentum of the trip back to Atlanta and our relationship quickly evolved.

In 2017, I attended my first meeting for a non profit in Atlanta. During the meeting I was asked to introduce myself and where I was from. After my brief introduction, A young cheerful man with a pleasing smile walked up to me and quickly introduced himself as "Vince" he mentioned he was also from Anambra state, we had a brief but intimate conversation about Atlanta and family after which we exchanged numbers and parted ways. A few weeks later, I ran into him first at a gala and then at a friend’s birthday party. Both times our outfits were coincidentally color coordinated. Each time Vince asked me to take a picture with him because ‘I made him look good.’ I always thought to myself, ‘we do look good together’ but I didn’t say anything. I just smiled and took the pictures. We didn’t talk much after that. He would check in on me once in a while and mention intentions to take me out on a date but our schedules never gave us the opportunity. Fast forward to Christmas that same year. I was leading an orphanage visit in Anambra through the non-profit and found out that Vince was one of the ambassadors. I also found out that he lived ten minutes away from my house in the village. We planned trips to the orphanages in Anambra together and the long drive gave us time to connect. I found out so much about this wonderful man, how humble and kind he is. After the orphanage visits, Vince introduced me to his parents and told them informally that he was interested in me, little did we know that we were family friends! His parents paid my parents a visit to say "hi". I had no idea! The trip to the village also gave me the opportunity to learn so much about Vince's family! I can never forget the new years eve party at his house where they served my siblings and I the most delicious fish. Vince and his family’s hospitality was very refreshing! Long-story short, we talked every single day since 2017 Christmas and here we are, actually getting married! #Chukwukelove