We met on Bumble the first week after the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However we did not officially meet in person until April 25, 2020. Since Lily is immunocompromised, and Jamal did not want to put his friends and family at risk of contracting covid, we both decided to wait a little over a month before meeting in person - and even then, we took LOTS of precautions!

Our first "real" date! Since we met during the COVID-19 pandemic, we did not have a real date until a few months after we started dating. By this time, we celebrated our two-month anniversary by going to Maggie Valley, North Carolina and admiring the beauty of the blue ridge mountains. This is the first photo that we took together!

We tell each other "I love you" for the first time while on a short trip to visit Jamal's friend, Wayne, in Alabama. Fun fact: Wayne is one of Jamal's groomsmen.

We're Facebook official! This was the first photo that we shared on social media, announcing us as a couple! We had gone to a haunted house with Lily's friend Hailey for her birthday and Hailey was able to snap this picture of us! Fun fact: Hailey is one of Lily's bridesmaids

Lily brings Jamal home to Illinois for the first time for the holidays! While we didn't get to see snow while we were there, it was very cold! Jamal got to see where Lily grew up, went to college, meet her family and all of the animals on the farm (the goats, chickens, horses, donkeys, and dogs).

We celebrated our 1 year anniversary by taking a helicopter tour around Greenville, South Carolina and the surrounding area! This was such a cool experience that we are so happy we got to do together.

We went on a short weekend trip to Washington, DC and discovered that we have a mutual love about everything DC has to offer.

Trip to the Windy City!

Trip to Colorado Springs!

Jamal surprised Lily with a trip to Charleston for her birthday where Lily discovered her love of fresh oysters. Shoutout to Jamal's friend Amathyst for introducing us to all of the good food spots and making this trip extra special!

By this point we had moved-in together, and were able to spend our first Christmas living together. Fun fact: This was Lily's first real tree!

Jamal surprised Lily with a trip to Atlanta to see her favorite sports team, the St. Louis Cardinals play the Atlanta Braves!

We moved to Charlotte! We both knew that Charlotte would be our next move, so when we were both able to secure good jobs in Charlotte, we jumped at the chance to move to the Queen City! We have been enjoying exploring the Queen City ever since and are looking forward to planting roots here eventually starting a family here.

We attended our first Breakthrough T1D, formerly JDRF, One Walk together! Ever since we first met, Jamal has been an amazing supporter of Lily and her Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) - learning the science behind it, how to be a great partner to someone with T1D, and helping spread awareness and educate others. The One Walk is an annual fundraiser where friends, family, and businesses come together to show support for and raise money for T1D research. Lily used to work for JDRF (before it became Breakthrough T1D), but we are still big supporters of the One Walk and the good work that this organization does for the community.

We made it to Dreamville! We are both huge J. Cole fans, and for the Christmas prior, Lily got Jamal tickets to go to Dreamville. This was a weekend that neither of us will ever forget - we not only got to see J. Cole, but we also got to see Usher, Drake, Lil Wayne, Glorilla, Lil Uzi Vert, Earthgang, JID, Ari Lennox, and many more!

Jamal proposes to Lily at Rosie's Wine Garden (Lily's favorite place in Charlotte) surrounded by close family and friends! Lily's best friend, Hailey, was able to FaceTime Lily's mom so that she could be there with us to experience this picture perfect moment!