Leonard and I actually met back in 2013 through our best friends, Ian & Reva. Legend has it, he’s always had a thing for me and I was too blind to notice. So we were just friends until he decided one day to shoot his shot. He caught me during a good year, lol, because I made the decision to give dating another shot. The stars aligned for us in 2017 and in 2018 he moseyed his way into moving in with me when I bought my first house.

2019 was the year we got engaged. I hate surprises and he definitely got me. We got a hotel for a gala we were attending and our besties came through for some photos in the room before it was time to party. I never even paid attention to the music changing nor the nervous twitches Leonard seemed to be having before it was our turn to take pictures. Now this is where it gets blurry for me still. All I remember is him saying “You know I love you,” and I’m like “duh, let’s take this picture,” then some more words here and there and then boom he’s reaching for something out of his bag and get’s on his knee. Complete Shocker! I hyperventilate, start getting hot, and can’t speak. I had to say yes twice because nobody heard me say it the first time.

Planning a wedding was not fun for me. I plan international trips all the time, but a wedding? Nah. I tried not to stress as much but that’s just not possible. Luckily I had an amazing Matron of Honor. 2020 was supposed to be an exciting year. I was fresh off my bridal shower ready to count down the days, then COVID reared it’s ugly head. Our Vegas wedding and Jamaica honeymoon cancelled! We still managed to pull off a local wedding with our guests via zoom and it was perfect! We share April 20th with his parents and my grandparents so it was important that we still got married that day.

Still reeling off the high that we were finally married, 4 days later we took the funds that we didn’t spend on a Vegas wedding and put a down payment on building our new home. I mean why not take advantage. Interest rates were at a record low. We were planning on building in 2021, but our circumstances pushed that timeline up. Seems like it was perfect timing too because May 1st we found out that we were expecting……and that’s how Xavier’s Preemie Life began.