In May of 2017, I transferred to the Middle TN office and I contacted my new branch managers to introduce myself. The first time I heard Kunle's voice, I was shocked at how attractive his voice was. A couple weeks later, he was at my office for a meeting so I made a point to introduce myself face to face. In my cheerful, peppy manner I approached him with a big smile on my face to shake his hand and let him know that I was the one he had been talking on the phone with. His reception was...not so warm and welcoming. I was received with a blank, confused stare and a formal handshake. The awkwardness was too much to bear, so I quickly retreated back to my cubicle not understanding why he was so cold in person but so friendly over the phone. Several weeks later he asked my coworker for my personal number to text me a work question. I was not too thrilled with her sharing my personal number, but now I'm so grateful this moment happened. He texted me and our conversation went from there. Kunle loves to use GIFs so our conversations began as what we call GIF-ing back and forth. That transitioned into regular conversation and getting to know each other as friends. Several times he mentioned us doing something together, but I quickly gave him the friend-zone response, "yeah that could be fun". He finally was more straightforward and asked me on a date. I hesitated, but I couldn't deny our GIF-ing chemistry so I agreed. We went to Goten for some hibachi and sushi and the date was going so well that we decided to grab drinks at a rooftop bar. The conversation was so easy and comfortable with him. I could tell by the way he looked at me through the night that he felt the same. I knew by the end of the night that there was something special and undeniable about him. He quickly became my best friend because I can truly be myself with him and he thinks it's cute/funny. I knew early on that he was the man I wanted as my life partner to laugh, cry, and adventure with.

I met Lauren through work. She was my accountant but our beginning was 1000% innocent. I remember her emailing me introducing herself as my accountant but like any other unimportant email I IMMEDIATELY deleted it. I had someone who handled my questions so Lauren was no use to me. Fast forward a month I was dealing with an issue. I call my non official accountant but she didn’t answer. Literally blew her phone up. She was on lunch and couldn’t help me. I remembered the girl that emailed me a month ago saying she was my accountant. I asked her for Lauren’s number and she gave it to me. Lauren fulfilled my needs so she was my official accountant. I don’t think she knew what she was getting herself into. I literally BLEW-HER-PHONE-UP-EVERY-SINGLE-DAY. But she was so patient with any question that I had. I depended on her. There was a point where she taught me so much that I stopped calling accounting. I didn’t need her anymore. I remember being at my admin office talking to someone & from a distance I see this short, blonde,curvy girl with heels walk by. I immediately stopped the conversation and asked “WHO is that?!” They laughed and told me “That is YOUR accountant!” Immediately picked my jaw off the ground. I was in a relationsip, at the time, so I left it at that. Fast forward a couple months (remember I stopped calling my accountant because I knew everything) she texted me saying “Are you alive? Me and the accounting team is worried because nobody has heard from you!” I immediately sent her the Nick Young “question mark” GIF. From there we literally sent GIFS to each other for 3 weeks straight. No words. Just GIFS. We never ran out of responses. After a while my GIFs became flirty but hers didn’t. Finally broke the ice and actually started texting her words. I quickly found myself in the friend zone and I knew I had to get out ASAP!!! Shot my shot from half court, asked her out, we fell in love and the rest is history!!

In August 2018, Kunle suggested we go look at some rings. I was in no rush to become engaged, I knew it was coming eventually, but of course I couldn't help but be curious when it would actually happen. Being my nosy self, I asked my closest friends and my mom if they knew anything and they kept shrugging it off like they knew nothing. Kunle decided to really throw me off the scent by saying it probably wouldn't be for another 4 years because he didn't want to rush. For Christmas, Kunle's family traveled from Kansas to celebrate Christmas in Nashville. We planned a dinner for both my family and his family so they could all meet, but first Kunle planned a "surprise photo shoot as an early Christmas gift." Of course I had my suspicions of what was about to happen at this photo shoot, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. We went down by the river and pedestrian bridge for our photos. It was during this photo shoot that Kunle got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! It was all such a blur of happiness that I hardly remember how exactly I responded, but without a question I said yes! After taking a few pictures with my new bling, we joined our families for dinner to share our special night with the ones we love most. I've never felt as happy as I did that night and I can't wait to marry the man I've been praying for!