After two weeks of him atempting to make plans with me; which I was a constant failure of being able to keep them. Our plans were always having to be rescheduled. I kept having mishaps come up, such as, my car was un-drivable during the first week because I hit a curb on an icy morning drive to work. Then that weekend, a close family that I babysat for desperately needed a sitter and I was her last resort. I unwillingly told Lassana (Ak) that I couldn't keep our plans. I found out later that he thought that I was purposely not wanting to meet up with him and he was about to give up on me.
At this point I still had not really gotten his name. I had tried to get it once from him in a text message and got it, but then I accidentally deleted it before I read it. I didn't feel like looking stupid by asking for it again, so I left it alone. Two days before super bowl Sunday, he had called me up from his “mom’s” phone, he got my voice mail and left a message, but he didn‘t leave his name. He had lost his phone and actually remembered my number in order to call me. It was kinda sweet that he had only known me for less than two weeks and already had my number memorized. When I called the number back, I was so embarrassed because I didn't know who to ask for. When his mother answered the phone and asked who I was calling for, I had to say I didn't know; Ha-Ha. After she told me his name, she put him on the phone and we had finally made plans to go to his co-worker's super bowl party.
On the day of the party, I didn't want to show up by myself, so I coaxed my sister into going with me. We got to his place and then followed him and his friend to pick up another one of his friends. My sister and I thought the party was around Brooklyn Park; we soon found out that was not the case. We followed them onto hwy 10 towards 35w; when we got to the split to go north or south on 35w and my sister accidentally went south instead of following them north. So we had to turn around to catch up with them. The boys luckily noticed our mistake and pulled over at a gas station so we could get behind them again. We finally got to our destination at a home in Forest Lake. We had so much fun during that party, laughing and cheering on the same team, that did win!! There was one moment that I will always remember. We were upstairs getting some food to eat and he came up behind me and put his arms around my waist. I can still feel the butterflies that were in my stomach after he did that. Then when we were sitting on the couch and he kept contemplating whether or not he should put his arm around me. He sheepishly did one of those moves where he slide both arms on the top of the couch so that one was behind me. Then after a few minutes, he moved the one arm around me and the other into his lap while pulling me closer. It was sweet, and he was so nervous. We left separately with a sweet hug and good wishes for another date. A few days later we started meeting up almost every day and on February 16th, 2006, he asked if he could become the first boyfriend I had ever had. I couldn’t resist him and happily accepted the invitation; and so began the journey of our lifetime.

I was hurrying home after a day of work, I had just turned 21 a day before and Ak had planned to take me out for my golden birthday. When I got home, I started getting ready because he was on his way home. He had mentioned he had to make a stop at the mall, and would be home shortly. So while I was busy getting ready, for a soon to be memorable night, he was getting his thoughts together and picking up the ring from the jeweler. He finally got home, and it was getting close to the time we needed to leave. I went to get my shoes on and then I heard him say: “Baby, come here for a minute." He was standing behind me with a rose in his hand. I thought it was as sweet as can be, I smiled and said thank you. I had figured that this was his gift to me for my birthday; being that we both were runnning short on money. To my surprise, I watched as he reached over to the table and lifted his hat. Under it was a small box. At first I didn’t think anything of it... then He then opened it, got down on his knee and said: “Baby, I love you so much, will you marry me?” I was in utter shock. I kept repeating out loud: “are you kidding me, are you serious?!” After a few of those, I then excitedly replied: “Yes, of course I will!” I busted into one of those happy cries. I was so excited; he kept on hugging me and giving me kisses. I knew after that I had to fix my make up before we left to eat. We went to Applebee’s (our favorite place to eat) and just took in the night. I couldn’t stop looking at my ring; he did such an amazing job picking it out. It was so ironic that 2 weeks before, I told him that the best gift I could possibly get for my 21st golden birthday, was to be proposed to. I had no idea it would come true! It was literally the best birthday gift ever and truly a memorable night. It’s so funny how the littlest way you do something, can be the most romantic thing you’ll ever experience!