TLDR; 2 months ago, the life of my love decided to upgrade what’s on my ring finger, as he wanted the world to know I was his.
After a tough start to 2021, February was no different. Q had been anxious about something he was sending me in the mail for weeks – he’s the most impatient person I know. He told me: “if a box comes in the mail, don’t open it until video visit, preferably a Valentine’s Day one.”
Of course I was super giddy and I scratched and scraped to make sure I was able to book a video visit for that day. Alas, they were all gone relatively quickly, since we ALL want to see our men that day in the absence of driving there. I was able to score a visit in the afternoon on black love day, a holiday we just learned about and decided to celebrate this year.
“We all know Valentine’s Day is meant for celebrating and acknowledging our significant other, but few have heard of the Feb. 13 alternative: Black Love Day, the third nationally commemorated African-American holiday. It is a day of atonement, reconciliation and celebration. In 1993, Ayo Handy-Kendi, the founder of the nonprofit African-American Holiday Association (AAHA), created Black Love Day. The holiday is based on five tenets: love toward the creator, love for self, love for the family, love for/within the black community and love for black people. The idea is to apply these tenets throughout the entire year in one’s daily life but to pay special homage to the idea of black love on Feb. 13.”
I think we found ourselves another holiday babe. Lol. When I read this I immediately thought of you and us and how we are and how I could see us really celebrating this holiday in life. While I love Valentine’s Day and stuff esp because it’s the 14th, I love the idea of black love day and what it celebrates and represents.
-S, from JPay Letter 1/28/21
I remember that day – I got the box in the mail on the 9th I believe, and it was a small box so I wasn’t sure what he had up his sleeve. He was almost more excited than I was to open the box.
That day of the visit finally arrived – 2pm. I tried to dress up a little bit and put on a little make up. For some reason, I was feeling anxious and nervous. Almost immediately after visit started he said ‘okay go get the box.’ I had to break the tape to get it off but when I did, there was a small black box and I knew what it was almost immediately. Inside was a silver ring. I freaked out.
‘Babe, will you marry me, babe?’ – were his exact words. As many words as he could get out because I was so excited to look at it and try it on and was freaking out. I almost forgot to say yes. I couldn’t believe he had done this.
We continued to talk about it on visit and throughout the day. I learned that he picked out the ring himself, out of a catalog that he has access to in there and ordered it with his own money he’d been saving. He said of all the engagement rings in the book, it looked the most like me as my style. He’s historically asked me for my ring size, but I have NO idea what it is and always said he thought I was a 7. Somehow, he was right.
Of course, I’ve been over the moon ever since. Even though we don’t know when we will get married legally, I still feel our souls binding through the universe, no matter how many miles we are apart. We want to wait until he’s released.
I still wear our wooden ring sometimes, as it’s a huge part of our story and is irreplaceable. This ring was born out of our current and established love, representing a cornerstone of where we are today.
-S
Your Loved One, Q 
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