I DO GHANA BRIDAL WINTER 2018 | Page 20

A few years later we reconnected during the holidays when I had gone out with my God sister to a concert downtown, which he attended with his friends. We said hi to each other and bye after; but he had to say something smart, stating “are u even old enough to be here “ , I said yes and walked away embarrassed. That same weekend I saw him again in church, I sat behind him while playfully telling him to get up and go put his tithe in the offering bucket. A few days later, he messaged me on instant messenger hav- ing inquired about me through my God-sister (Abby) and that’s where it begun. We commenced as friends at first; and he (Dar- ryl) even took me to take my driver’s license test. We quick- ly became more than friends; in my head, I always knew and wanted it to go in that direction; but Darryl always had his own timeline of things, however, here we are today- eight (8) years later. Early January 2016, Darryl and his family “knocked.”  I thought he was going to propose soon after that. He would usually surprise me with gifts and I would be so excited thinking it was the ring and then being let down later on. I started losing the excitement thinking he was going to take forever again. A week after participating in Miss Africa USA pageant, placing 3rd Runner-up and wining Miss People’s Prin- cess/Choice, we went to our usual church on Sunday- Darryl came a bit more dressed up than he does to church: saying “I forgot to put the laundry on the night before,” I really didn’t think nothing of it because he likes to dress up. After church, we planned to go out to eat. he asked me to change into high heels because he didn’t want to be the only one looking extra dressy; I genuinely thought nothing of it because additionally, we always try to match each other. I went home to change and waited for him to pick me up. While I was changing, his parents came to my house, reitera- tively, I thought nothing of that either, my parents had just gotten back from vacationing in Ghana; and had to be welcomed as its done in most African cultures.