Jo Jo and I first met as kids at the Board of Education, where our moms worked. We probably exchanged a few polite words, but that was about it. Fast forward to the summer after my 5th-grade year, when Jo Jo’s sister, Nichole, started babysitting me and my siblings. She spent the whole summer with us—taking us to the pool, the park, the movies, and all the fun places. Every time we went to the pool, I would say, “Invite your brother to come swimming with us!” (Turns out, she never actually passed along the invitation—something I found out years later!)

At some point that summer, Nichole let me in on a little secret—Jo Jo straightened his hair every day. So when we ended up at the same junior high school a few years later, I made sure to tease him about it every chance I got! Even though we were in the same school, we still didn’t talk much, but we had mutual friends. That October, we went to haunted houses in a big group with the people we were dating at the time, and looking back, that was probably the real start of our friendship. We stayed friends throughout high school and even went to my junior prom together—just as friends, but we had the best time!

Fast forward several years—after I graduated college, my best friend moved to Texas, and most of my college friends had moved back home. I started hanging out with my little brother and his friends more, and that’s when I realized that Jo Jo was one of his best friends. In the fall of 2022, we all started spending a lot of time together, and somewhere along the way, I developed a crush on Jo Jo—little did I know, he had a crush on me too! I later found out that he kept asking my brother to set us up, but my brother never did.

Then, in the spring of 2023, I had planned a trip to the Mullet Toss with some friends, but at the last minute, the trip got canceled. Meanwhile, Jo Jo and my brother already had a trip planned with another group, and Jo Jo insisted that I come along. So, I did—and we had the absolute best time! After that, we started hanging out almost every weekend.

Finally, on June 1, 2023, after spending so much time together, I asked Jo Jo, “So… what are we?” He responded, “Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask you—do you want to be my girlfriend?” Of course, I said yes!

A little over a year later, on October 19, 2024, Jo Jo asked me an even bigger question—he asked me to marry him. And once again, I said yes!