Tyler and I met at probably the least expected place a 19-year-old and a 20-year-old could meet (yes, I got an older woman!).
 
We met for the first time in 2017 while one of us was doing their job and the other was wasting time and fooling around with his friend, I’ll let you decide who that was. I saw Tyler from a distance and thought she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. So, I got a wingman, who I secretly paid with candy, to come to me and ask me to jump on trampolines. Needless to say, my plan worked wonderfully, and I got to speak to this beautiful woman. Okay, that isn’t exactly how it happened if I’m being completely honest. It was God’s plan that Connell, the little boy Tyler was looking after, came to me out of everyone else in the trampoline park. If that didn’t happen, I’d probably still be single today. I now had the opportunity to talk to the most beautiful woman ever, but there was one problem, I couldn’t flirt. I’ve been told a few times that I should work on my ‘game’, but I was thrown in the deep end and had to make the best out of the situation. Thankfully I had my wingman who made it easier. After spending the afternoon with Tyler and Connell, paying him what he was due with ice-cream, I learnt in that short time how unique and special Tyler was, she was a kind and caring person, with a large portion of pride, as she didn’t want me to pay for anything for her and Connell. Deep down, I think I knew then that she was the person I wanted to spend my life with.
 
We began to part ways that late afternoon, and I wanted to ask Tyler for her number. But, with the lack of ‘game’ I had, I just asked for her Instagram handle. Thankfully Tyler was a little more confident than I was, and said she will give me her number, probably the first hint of her falling in love with me?
 
A few days later, Aidan and I went around to Tyler’s place to hang out. I rocked up there, dressed to impress in the coolest onesie a guy could, a Wonder Woman onesie. We all spent that day and the evening just talking and getting to know each other. I learnt about her family and how close she is with her parents and her sister. We felt so welcomed in their home even though we had only known Tyler for a few days. It was on that day that I knew I liked Tyler.
However, we drifted apart for a little after that day and I thought my chance with Tyler was over. But as I said about the first day we met, I think Tyler was already in love with me. So, sometime after we drifted apart, Tyler messaged me and asked if I wanted to hang out. I played it real cool when I got that message, and screamed, and jumped on the bed. After that day, we were pretty much inseparable, I was at her house almost every weekend and we spent every free time we had together.
 
Spending all my time with her, I really began to know the real her. How she cared deeply for everyone, and wanted to help whoever she could. I learnt about her aspirations to become an attorney to help the less fortunate through her career. I learnt about her love and passion for God, and she helped me find my love for God’s word again. I learnt about her cute dance moves and her obsession with Chris Brown. Her family was the most important thing in the world to her, and I would spend hours sitting in her room alone while she was having her daily talk with her parents about the latest ‘nou’ of the day. I loved every moment I spent with not just Tyler, but with her family. Each and every minute I spent with her; I fell more in love.
 
After a few months I decided I wanted to ask Tyler to be my girlfriend. So, I planned a day where we would go to the Northcliff Hills for the day. I thought it would be a simple yes from her as we spent all our time together. But as fate would have it, not even on the day, but the day before, Tyler told me she was not ready to date anyone. So there went my plans. But I did not give up. I decided that I would keep on trying and eventually she would say yes. So, we continued spending all our time together, and you’d think that she was just as obsessed with me as I was with her, but she kept telling me the same thing. That’s how I learnt about her persistence and stubbornness. I knew she liked me, but she just wanted to play hard to get. I didn’t think she would play hard to get for over a year though, but I kept trying because I knew that she was the girl I wanted to be with for the rest of my life.
 
As we know from the movies, every true love story has a tragic moment where the characters drift apart from each other, and our love story is no different. We drifted apart for about a year before we found our way back to each other. In that time, I couldn’t get Tyler off my mind. I would spend hours thinking about her, and how I just wanted to message her. But alas, everything happens for a reason, and in 2019, when the time was right in God’s eyes, I had the courage to message her. We met for coffee on a stormy evening. I got there first so I could be waiting inside and when she walks in, she would fall to her knees with all the love she had for me and would realize we should be together in that moment. Yea, that didn’t happen, instead, I was that kid with no ‘game’ sitting awkwardly, staring at her thinking how beautiful she was and how I’ve missed her. We had our coffee, spoke, and cleared the air.

When we left it was raining pretty hard and I was worried about her getting home, so I followed her home to make sure she got home safely. That night, I decided I did not want to jeopardize having her in my life, even if it was just as a friend, so I decided I would not ask her out again.
 
A few weeks later I decided to skip my classes at varsity and go see her. We hung out like old times, just talking away. Then she did something I thought she would never do… she held my hand. Only one thought went through my head, ‘this girl is obsessed with me’. From then on, she was head over heels for me and I was mildly infatuated by her. A short time after that we decided to plan a trip to Durban, and it was here that I was going to officially ask her to be my girlfriend. I wrote her a note, and got her a promise ring, which I planned to give to her while walking on the beach. But I couldn’t wait that long, so I gave her the note and the ring the day before our romantic beach walk.
 
Everything else is history. Every day I fall more in love with her and want to spend every waking moment with her. So, in August 2023, I decided I wanted to ask her to spend the rest of our lives together. It took months of planning and finalizing and the whole time I was praying that it didn’t take as long this time for her to say yes. So, on the 30th of December 2023 I made her dreams, I mean my dreams, come true and got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. It didn’t take very long this time for her to say yes.
 
I cannot wait for what the future holds for us. I get to do life with the most beautiful, smart, kind, and loving person in the whole world, and that’s the best thing I could ever ask for.