It was the third Thursday of June, 2003.  The location was Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Atlanta, and the setting was Mass Choir rehearsal.  I was bored out of my mind, waiting for the rehearsal to end when here arrives Amanda, extremely LATE  (Contrary to what she may say, she was late...that is my story, and I'm sticking to it).  Visiting her grandparents from Keflavik, Iceland, she was wearing a white baseball cap with a ponytail, white shirt, and grey sweats; I had on a red and white shirt with blue shorts and a crisp pair of Air Force Ones, clean dress befitting of a Morehouse Man.   Anyway, Amanda arrived right on time to sing a solo “I Told The Storm”, and tore everybody up.  She even shouted herself out of the choir stands.  It was then that she caught my eye…not simply the fact that she was cute and could sing a little...lol.  Nevertheless, we exchanged information and didn’t talk again until almost two years later. 

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We exchanged a few emails, and she extended an invitation for me to visit her at TN State for their Homecoming.  Sooo, I jumped in my Altima (if you don’t know about that car, you better ask somebody) and made the commute to Nashville.  I arrived at her dormitory before her, and sat waiting for her arrival.  But upon her arrival, the wait was definitely worthwhile.  Strolling in with blue jeans, black shirt, sunglasses in the hair and a bag of Doritos in hand….it was love at first sight.  We went out to dinner at Carabba's Italian Grill, and the entire time we were there I was attempting to convince myself that I was NOT IN LOVE…but to no avail.  Long story short, on November 8, I asked Amanda to be my girlfriend; she made me wait a week before saying yes.  Seven years later, I purchased a ring, ready to fulfill the words I shared with her before I left Nashville, “you’re going to be my wife….”



-James