Christiana Neazer's life took an upsetting turn during the COVID times but
The pandemic affected a lot of lives and families, and the virus took away a lot of loved ones. Among them was Christiana's husband who lost his life because of COVID-19. Christiana was left heartbroken and distraught when her life partner left her too soon in July 2020, per TODAY. She had just shared the news of her pregnancy with him, and the two couldn't even celebrate the news together because he was hospitalized with COVID.
A year later, Christiana's life turned out to be better than she could have ever imagined. Christiana got engaged to her partner, Andrae Reid, on July 25, when he blindfolded her and took her on a boat to Long Beach, California. He and his friends had managed to decorate the boat, where he told Christiana that they are going for a friend's birthday party. As the boat sailed out of the port, Andrae popped the question, and she the young mother gleefully accepted.
Christiana had a very difficult time when her husband passed. As a young pregnant widow, she felt so much grief and loneliness. She realized that there were many such women living their life in grief after losing their loved ones. She started a TikTok channel, to share her journey of dealing with losses at such a young age and trying to move towards healing and acceptance. Her videos started gaining popularity, and in no time her videos reached two million likes and more than nine million views.
Although Reid, 30, knew Neazer was struggling with ongoing grief and the challenges of raising a baby, he said she was worth it. “I started to really recognize her personality and started seeing some gifts in her shine through,” Reid told TODAY. “(Despite) the trauma she was going through, her resilience was really showing me a lot about her.” Their love story blossomed after the birth of her daughter, they started off as acquaintances and then became good friends and she wanted to get ahead in the relationship but the thought of moving on scared her.
“He sent me a voice note like praying,” Neazer said. “And so it just turned into a weekly thing … and I’m just like, he’s really praying consistently for me and Shiloh. And that’s pretty much what opened the door.”
“The day before I had Shiloh I was like, ‘I think I’m going to allow him to be more involved, But you have guilt and shame attached to it as a young widow,” she added.
But Reid knew he wanted to be with her and she showed it through actions, his consistency and gentleness towards Christiana and Shiloh made her open up more and let go of the guilt she was facing.
The happy couple moved past their challenges, and now Christiana moved in with Reid earlier this month. Her journey was a tough one but the right person made it easier for her to heal and move on.
“It’s beautiful because I was truly loved at my worst, so it can only get better from here as I continue to get better through different seasons of my life,” Neazer said. “He already saw me in my worst state. He allows me to just be free in my grief moments and I think that’s what love is — truly caring for someone in all of their seasons.”
“It just shows me we really don’t know what’s gonna happen in our life and so I want to take advantage of the fullness of life,” she said. “Do what makes you happy. You don’t know your last day on earth,” she concluded.
References:
https://www.today.com/parents/parents/young-widow-engaged-after-grief-loss-rcna44666
Image Sources: Getty Images |Staff
