Tosha...

We met in the apartment building my Dad lived in on Cerise in Hawthorne, Ca. I remember my sisters Tanya and Iris coming in from playing basketball in the building and telling me they just met Dennis Rodman. If anyone knows me well, Im not a sports fan at all and didn't know who the hell they were talking about. I eventually followed them downstairs and was introduced to Eric, summer of 1992.

Eric's mom also lived in the same building where he came to stay for the summer with her. Eric was tall, dark, and handsome with these big ears and this funny country accent and a great sense of humor. I was immediately attracted to him. We became friends and spent the whole summer together hanging out on the block, going to the movies, and playing basketball, well me watching him play basketball actually. Those times we were not together, we were on the phone for hours. Eric and I became best friends and he always had me laughing. We both knew that he was only visiting and had to go back to Alabama at the end of summer. We spent the next year making long distance calls that ran the phone bill up to $993 for me and $898 for him which got us both grounded. We resorted to writing letters and getting to know each other on another level. Eric moved back to LA the following summer and the first person he wanted to see was me. We spent every day, hour, minute, second, together and it was amazing. Eventually our friendship evolved into a relationship and soon we realized we were in love. Our young love was easy, exciting, effortless and we were always together We also had social lives outside of each other. Sadly after 4 1/2 years, our relationship abruptly ended leaving me heart broken. Your first love is the hardest to get over so I buried it deep inside.

Eric...

The pain that I heard in Tosha's voice was the moment I knew I lost my true love forever. As the years flew by, I often thought about her and the amazing connection we once had but I needed to move on. Eventually, relationships, kids and careers became my focus. But often there was a scene in a movie or words from a song that would have me reminiscing about a love that once was. Years passed and my thoughts and feelings were no longer. There were times when I often stayed up late drinking and listening to my special drunk playlist. One special night, I came across a song that unlocked everything. That song was "Back in My Arms" By Jaheim, released in 2016. After playing my now favorite song on repeat hundreds of times, I soon realize, I needed her "Back in my Arms." That song described exactly how I felt but my pride would always be my kryptonite and not allow me to reach out.

More years went by and finally I decided to reach out to her via Instagram. Nervous and uncertain that Tosha would respond, I took a chance. Her response was not right away, it took about a month before she saw the message and responded with the most satisfying words, "Hi! How are you?" We continued to send several DMs and eventually a call was made. That conversation was filled with reflection of our past Love and to our surprise the Love we still felt for each other.

Tosha & Eric...

The past seemed to repeat itself. After countless hours of long distance calls that no longer cost money, (Eric lived in Seattle), we talked every day and made a few visits between us. Eventually, Eric moved back to Los Angeles after 4 months and we were able to start our new life together. To our surprise the pandemic happened and we were forced to spend several months in lockdown, thankfully we didn't kill each other. Our Love reconnection became stronger and now we are looking forward to spending the rest of our lives together, Back in each other Arms.....