How I Met My Husband

 

How We Met

Damien and I met while attending The University of Southern California. During rivalry week, USC throws a pep rally called ‘Conquest’ to celebrate the upcoming football game against hometown rival UCLA. While enjoying the concert, a few of my girlfriends started to chat up the cute football boys they knew (…naturally). Damien and I waited politely for our friends and made small talk while the others finished their conversations. He struck up the nerve somewhere during our shy casual convo to ask me to hang out with him…that same night after the concert had finished. I figured that if I didn’t take the opportunity now to get to know this charming handsome guy, I honestly probably never would. I was nervous (growing up, as the daughter of a retired NBA All-Star, my dad only had one rule for me: NO DATING ATHLETES…lol oops) but I agreed… BEST. DECISION. EVER .

The more we got to know each other the more infatuated and nervous I got. I told my mom I was scared. He opened every door, he never let me walk on the busy side of the street, he bought me ‘just because’ flowers- and not just the grocery store kind but the kind from an actual florist (I’m a self-proclaimed flower snob) tied up with ribbon in crisp brown paper. Damien was a tried and true gentleman and I was scared that the happiness I felt with him was a type of euphoria that wouldn’t last. I was scared because every moment spent with him felt entirely too good to be true. I was scared because I was already falling in love with him and he hadn’t even officially asked me out yet…but he always somehow made my worries feel obsolete. He finally asked me to come meet his family after a big game and I agreed. Right on time my nervous doubts came flooding back. What were they gonna think of me? What should I say? Was I acting weird because I was nervous? How do I introduce myself? What even are ‘we’? I waited around nervously after the game thinking I was gonna meet his parents and maybe one of his siblings. Boy, was I in for a surprise. He didn’t tell me it would be almost all of his siblings, parents, uncles, aunties, nieces, and nephews. He introduced me to each one individually and told them all I was his girlfriend (LOL I still make fun of him for this- homeboy skipped the whole ‘give her a choice and ask her if she wants to date you’ and went straight to ‘She is mine, like it or not’…obviously I liked it). If it had been anyone else I would have been completely overwhelmed, but because of Damien everything felt just right. His family made me feel beyond welcomed. Hearing the word girlfriend come out of his mouth made me feel giddy in a way I had never experienced. He made me feel like I was finally home.