Alexae and I spent our childhoods 7,635 miles apart on two different sides of the world. We grew up with different life experiences in completely different cultures. We didn’t know it at the time, but God was molding us into the people we would want to spend the rest of our lives with.

It wasn’t until her high school years that Alexae and her family decided to return to America and leave Dubai, UAE. However, her new home in Texas was still extremely different from my own home in Georgia.

Fortunately, during our senior year, the two of us decided to spend the next four years at Samford University. And then, out of all the available weekends, we somehow chose the exact same one for our college orientation. To make it even better, God winked at us and placed us in the same exact group of fifteen students out of almost the two hundred students there that weekend. This is where we would FINALLY meet each other.

In all truthfulness though, the two of us were both in relationships at the time, and we never spoke more than a hello to each other. My relationship at the time did not follow me into college, and I was genuinely planning to have no girlfriends or anything even close for a long while. I wanted to focus only on my studies... well, until I saw Alexae again.

We “officially” met each other at orientation, but I didn’t “know” Alexae until the first week of school at Samford's freshman events for us around campus. The school threw this huge party, and by chance, I happened to be near her and have such genuine conversations that meant the world to me. This was when I realized how special this girl was.

The party made its way to this large fountain on campus, and it is a Samford tradition to jump into there at least once. Now, getting into a gross fountain in my khakis and nicer clothes with many other students is not generally my thing, but I couldn’t have this beautiful and amazing girl think I was lame. Both of us jumped into the fountain and continued our great conversations. We learned so much about each other, and I instantly began to care for her.

To make things even crazier, the next day, our first class ever at Samford was together! Then, we happened to get into the same friend group, and I found out that her high school relationship was still ongoing. It was a shot to the heart, but I respected that so much and ended any romantic advances in my mind and carried on with our plutonic relationship. However, it wasn’t long before I discovered her relationship had ended. I genuinely felt for her because heartbreak is never fun, but I couldn’t help but have some sort of silent celebration in my head. After all, I didn’t know where our relationship would lead to, but I knew that it was special.

I decided to take a risk and invite this beautiful and sweet girl to breakfast before our shared class, and I have never looked back. We started dating later in October and we’ve grown into such strong and faithful people and have continually made each other better daily.

If there is anything we have learned from our story is that God is always working even when we don’t see it. No matter where you are in life or even where you are in the world, there is always a plan that is in motion. Asking Alexae to be my wife on June 29, 2024, will forever be the best thing to ever happen in my life, and we are so excited to share June 14, 2025, with each of you when we finally say, “I do.”