The Beginning
“I’d just finished close to an 11 hour drive from Georgia to Ohio to start my first semester at Oberlin College. As I was driving through the town, on route to my freshman dorm, I noticed this woman walk out of Ben Franklin, the local five-and-dime / craft store. I saw her for no longer than a few seconds, but I just assumed she was an incoming freshman like me and that we would develop a friendship during our shared time at Oberlin. Classes started and, much to my chagrin, she was no where to be found. After all, Oberlin is not a big school so you have a pretty good chance of at least spotting all of your classmates within the first few weeks. It wasn’t until Isoke waited my table at the local pizza restaurant that I understood I had it all wrong. Isoke wasn’t a college student, but in fact someone from the town.”
—Matthew
“Matthew started at Oberlin my senior year in high school. Naturally, I don’t remember the Ben Franklin incident, but I do remember waiting his table. At that point I knew about him through mutual friends. My parents worked at Oberlin and I had the benefit of developing friendships with students in just about every class. What was memorable to me was that he wrote this kind little note on the back of his receipt. It wasn’t anything flirty, but just an expression of appreciation for my service that night.”
— Isoke
The Introduction
Despite having seen each other in passing, it wasn’t until November 4th, 2008 that we were officially introduced. President Barack Obama had just made history and the Campus was buzzing with energy. It felt like the entire Oberlin community, students and towns-people alike, gathered in Tappan Square. I was out celebrating the occasion when out the corner of my eye I see a gleeful Matthew heading right towards me. He introduced himself (perhaps emboldened by a little liquid courage, haha) and we exchanged social media information.
The Courtship
We started as friends, exchanging Facebook messages, discussing our separate college experiences, wishing each other a happy birthday and holidays, etc. It wasn’t until the summer of 2010, almost two years of having known each other, that we decided perhaps our platonic relationship could transition into something more meaningful. Leading up to the summer we had been in contact more than usual, and given VCU’s semester ended before Oberlin’s and that Matthew would be staying an extra week and a half to work through commencement, we made loose plans to see each other and catch up. While we only had plans to catch up once or twice, we ended up running into each other relatively often thanks to mutual friends. Oberlin’s commencement came and went and Matthew eventually went to Chicago for the summer to work and stay with his brother. What was once sporadic check-ins turned into daily text messages and phone calls. Fast forward to mid-July and Matthew asks me out.
And the rest is history
We’re excited to bring in this next phase of our relationship with our community!
