LaShawn and Marcus' Story:

I was a freshman during NSO week hanging with my freshmen friends, and one of those friends was a guy I liked. One day a different guy came up to me. He didn't like the fact that I liked this guy. So, he asked me what other guys I liked. I didn't know my husband's name at the time so I described him and he was a sophomore. The guy said "I'll be right back" and left my dorm room. 

At about 1:00 a.m. my door flashers went off. I opened it and it was the guy and my husband. He introduced us and left. Goodness! I wasn't looking my best at 1:00 a.m.! We sat on the exit stairs for a pretty long time talking. We hit it off very well. However, I liked my freshman friend and being the nice person that I am, I wanted to know how he felt about me before I moved on with someone else. I didn't straight out ask "You like me?". I asked if he was looking for a relationship and once he said no, I knew I didn't want to waste my time with that. I started hanging out with my husband. I didn't have many friends so I was always with him. We were together my entire college life. 

We had our ups and downs but managed to stay together. Got pregnant senior year, graduated, went home to live with my mom while he stayed at Gallaudet to finish his last year. We moved to Alabama, had a second child, and got married. Fast forward, we now have three children (our middle child is a child with autism), we both have been president of Alabama Black Deaf Advocates (ALBDA) and both are case managers for the deaf under Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind (AIDB) for different cities. We are a strong family unit and we are always together which makes us stronger and closer to each other. By the way, years later, the guy who introduced us told me "You owe me, I hooked you guys up!"