BY JE’DON HOLLOWAY-TALLEY
Special to the Birmingham Times
“You Had Me at Hello’’ highlights married couples and the love that binds them. If you would like to be considered for a future “Hello’’ column, or know someone, please send nominations to Barnett Wright bwright@birminghamtimes.com. Include the couple’s name, contact number(s) and what makes their love story unique.
COR’SHAWNA AND RASHAD CROSBY
Live: Fultondale
Married: April 27, 2019
Met: April 27, 2011, on Stillman College campus, in front of Stinson Hall. Cor’Shawna recalled the moment she laid eyes on Rashad who was walking across campus on his way to the cafeteria. “He came by and [shook] everyone’s hands and I just saw this big pretty smile and then he walked off,” she said. “I immediately asked my friend, Jeremy about him… [and] I said, ‘I’ve been on this campus for three years and I have never seen him, introduce me,’ and Jeremy said, ‘I cannot do that, you have a boyfriend.’ And I said, ‘just mind your business and introduce me,” Cor’Shawna laughed.
Without Jeremy’s help, Cor’Shawna introduced herself. “I was doing [an internet radio show called the ‘Table Talk’ on HipHopLive Radio.com at the time] and said, ‘hey, I’m Lady, C and we started talking, and I asked to see his phone so I could put my number in and I started flirting real hard. I had to let him know that he should be calling me later that night,” she laughed, “and we were playing around, and I don’t know what came over me, but I jumped in his arms, I had never acted like that before in my life,” Cor’Shawna said.
Rashad remembered, “While I was walking to the cafeteria I had actually already spotted Cor’Shawna, that was the reason I went over there and said, ‘what’s up?’ to my friend because I needed her to see me. I didn’t speak to her on purpose, but I made eye contact and when I walked off, I heard her ask about me, and said, ‘Yeah, I gotta stop back by there and get them digits…. I [ate and left the cafeteria] and went back over there so that I could talk to her and I said girl, I’m not about to call you no Lady C and then she told me her name was Cor’Shawna, and I said, ‘that is the countriest name I’ve ever heard.’ And, yeah, she had my phone a little too long so when I tried to take it, she jumped on me and wrapped her legs around me. I [was thinking] I don’t know what she’s trying to do, but I like it,” Rashad said.
The two talked underneath the magnolia trees for hours and despite their intense chemistry, they did not go on a date until a year later after Cor’Shawna had ended her relationship.
First date: May 2012, at Logan’s Roadhouse, on University Blvd. in Tuscaloosa.
“I gave her a call and told her that I was going to take her out for a nice celebration dinner after ending her relationship and her upcoming graduation. I was dressed nice, and I told her to dress real nice, and I bought her some pink roses to match my pink polo. I went to pick her up, and on our way to the restaurant my car broke down, and I had to call my line brother, Brandon. He came and scooped us up, and dropped us off at the restaurant… When our food came out. I grabbed her hands and blessed the food, and I also prayed over her future. And when I said, ‘amen,’ there was a table of old ladies sitting next to us, and they said ‘amen baby’, and then tapped Shawn and said, ‘girl, that’s the one right there,’” Rashad recalled.
“He was such a gentleman, he opened all the doors for me, I didn’t have to touch anything, he sat me down first… and yes, that prayer was very significant for me because I wasn’t expecting him to pray for my future. He said, ‘Lord, let her succeed, let her next journey be great…’ That stuck out to me, and I said, ‘ok, this is different, no other guy has ever prayed for me,’” Cor’Shawna said.
Cor’Shawna graduated and moved back to Birmingham, Rashad began his junior year at Stillman College, and the two began their semi-long distance relationship.
The turn: By summer 2012, the two were “in love and pregnant with our first child,” Cor’Shawna recalled.
“We were so much alike, we had really good chemistry,” Rashad said. “I took her to meet my family, and she fit right in. She wasn’t intimidated by my mom or my two younger sisters, and I knew that she was someone that I could be with for a long time… Even though I prayed for her and over her, [prayer] was also something she consistently did, and I was excited to be a part of her future because she’s such a talented individual, and I felt she needed someone to pour into her,” Rashad said.
The proposal: May 2017, at Aldridge Gardens, in Hoover.
“We had gone out the previous night and I woke up early to get the day started and get ready for my son’s school program. I said my prayer, had my coffee and went back to our bedroom and I saw Shawn and Carson [then four years old] sleeping in the bed so peacefully. They looked so beautiful, and there was a small voice in my head that said I could do this forever,” Rashad said. “It was that moment that I said, ‘Ok, God, are you sure? Because I’ve had the ring [for about six months). And He [God] said, ‘yes.’ So, I called my best friend/line brother, Brandon [who had been holding the ring for Rashad and was also their last-minute chauffeur for their first date], and I met him before heading to my son’s school awards day [at Calvary Resurrection Christian Academy] to get the ring… after the program, I asked Cor’Shawna did she want to go for a walk in a garden. She had always said that when I propose, she wants it to be just her and I, very intimate, and very special… And as we were walking through the garden and I started playing ‘Happily Ever After’ by Case on my phone, and I said ‘hey Shawn, do you remember what I said would happen if I ever played this song? I told you it would either be our wedding day or the day that I propose’ and she just froze. And I said this is the day that I propose, and I got down on one knee. I was scared, I knew she would say ‘yes,’ but I was still scared,” Rashad laughed. “I told her how much I loved and cared for her, I told her about the moment I had that morning watching her and Carson in bed, and how I could see myself doing this with her forever… I wanted to grow old with her, and that it would make me the happiest man on earth if she would be my wife,” Rashad said.
“I was excited because for so long I wanted to be engaged to him. I had watched all these other people get engaged, and I didn’t know if we were going to work out… And I always told him that I didn’t want him to propose because we had a child together. I wanted him to propose because he loves me and wants to be with me forever… I was boohooing. I cried, cried, cried, I was so excited and just so happy. Afterward, he asked me what I wanted to do, and I said, ‘take me back to Logans’. And he was like, Logans Roadhouse? And I said yeah, ‘that’s where I fell in love with you, take me back there…,’” CorShawna said.
The wedding: At Mathews Manor in Springville, AL, officiated by Pastor Mike McClure Sr., and their colors were emerald, gold, grey, and pink.
Most memorable for the bride was having “a beautiful day from start to finish, but when we made the announcement that we were pregnant with twins at the reception, everyone was ecstatic, that had to be most memorable,” Cor’Shawna said. “We played a game called Guess Who, and the last question was ‘guess who’s pregnant with twins’, and everybody was crying and happy for us.”
Most memorable for the groom was “when we were saying our vows, I think I had the best vows ever. I said, ‘In 2013, you blessed me with our greatest blessing, which is our son, but on this day, I’m going to give you my most prized possession, my last name’, and the crowd went wild, the pastor was like, alright now, you did that,” Rashad said.
They honeymooned in Cancun, Mexico. “She was pregnant so we gotta run it back so we can party hard,” Rashad said. “We had to rearrange a lot of our activities because she was pregnant, but it was still great to experience being outside of the country together for the first time.”
Words of wisdom: “Keep God first, and always be touching and talking,” Cor’Shawna said.
“Don’t be afraid to communicate openly and honestly. Understand that marriage takes more than love, it’s a real job, it’s something you have to wake up and be willing to be better at every day,” Rashad said. “And don’t be influenced or pressured by outside individuals, do what works for your marriage.”
Happily ever after: The Crosby’s attend Revelation Church Ministries, in Irondale, and have three children; son, Carson, 9, and twin girls Carrington and Raedyn, three years old.
Cor’Shawna, 32, is a Clay area native, and Clay Chalkville High School grad. She attended Stillman College where she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and works as a realtor at Barnes and Associates Realtors.
Rashad 31, is a Collins, Mississippi native, and Collins High School [MS] grad. He attended Stillman College where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology, and Jacksonville University [Florida] where he earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing, and works as an RN at UAB Hospital Emergency Department. Rashad is also a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc.
