It all started in January 2015, at Mrs. E’s Dining Hall on Daisy Hill at the University of Kansas. Anthony was sitting at a table, eating alone. It wasn’t the food that caught her eye, but something else entirely—he prayed before his meal…or maybe it was his back muscles (I’ll never tell 😉). Either way, Ella was immediately intrigued.
For the next three months, we kept things casual—just friends. We hung out together, played volleyball, grabbed meals, and went to the movies. As time continued, Ella was very clearly interested in Anthony, but Anthony being a man was completely oblivious. It wasn’t until Ella’s good friend, Ann, told Anthony in the dining hall that Ella was interested in him. A week passed by and Ella’s sister, Gianna, and mom came to visit her for Mom’s weekend. While getting ready for a night out at The Hawk (IYKYK) and chatting on the phone with Anthony, he casually asked Ella out on a date (April 24, 2015). She was speechless for a second, but of course, said yes. From that moment, everything shifted. 
Our first date was going to Sylas and Maddy’s on Mass Street in downtown Lawrence. We spent the night eating ice cream and talking for hours. In all honesty I thought Anthony was going to kidnap me this night. As we talked in the car on the way home he said to me that he could see us together 10 years from then with 3 kids…I thought he was crazy (he also bit his ice cream instead of licking it, and I thought that was psycho behavior).
As the weeks passed by, Ella & Anthony kept getting to know each other. Ella knew she was moving to Chicago but had yet to tell Anthony until one weekend Ella’s brother, Angelo, and her Papa came to Kansas with a trailer to get all of her belongings. Anthony just so happened to be walking home from class and saw Ella packing her things. He was visibly distraught, but would not admit it. Later that evening, Ella told Anthony that she was transferring to DePaul and would not be returning to KU (HA! jokes on me 🤣). He didn’t want to let her go but decided to accept it. Ella said her goodbye a week later and headed to the airport. Anthony, being the singer and poet he is (many people don’t know this about him) sang her the song “See You Again”. She thought it was the last time they would see each other, he clearly had other plans.
Fast forward to July 26th around 10pm. Ella had just gotten home from work and was texting Anthony when suddenly he asked if he could fly to Chicago the next morning at 5 AM, and arrive at 6:30 AM (see cheesy/cringy text log images). Ella was scheduled to have her tonsils removed on July 28th and he wanted to be there for her. He spent $572.36 on that trip, but it was worth every penny just to be there for me. That’s the kind of guy he is—always going above and beyond for the people he loves (even if he didn’t know he loved me yet).
Now after 10 years, 9 zip code changes, 8 apartments, 5 states, 4 degrees, a sabbatical, a deployment, PA school, and a partridge in a pear tree. We have finally come to the conclusion that making y’all wait a decade was finally sufficient, so here we are, with Chief in tow, ready to finally tie the knot.