In a story about to melt hearts. A 31-year-old Christiana Neazer, accepts a wedding proposal from her boyfriend, Andrae Reid after losing her husband to COVID-19 in the year 2020. While many felt that she moved on too quickly, this is what she had to say about it, “I think people look at it like, ‘Oh, she just completely doesn’t care anymore and she just pushed everything behind her and moved forward.” Neazer said. “Absolutely not. This is a part of my makeup now as a woman.”
And that it is! Neazer gained popularity online after she posted a TikTok on her page showing young widows how to deal with their grief in the best way possible, TODAY reported. What she didn’t expect was for the video to blow up online. The video garnered nearly two million likes and was viewed more than nine million times. Neazer wanted all young widows to know: “We have to live life and we have to embrace who comes into our life. Healing is a continuous journey. You don’t reach it and then it’s over.” Which is exactly what she felt when Reid came into their lives. Neazer was pregnant when her husband passed away in 2020. She gave birth to a baby girl named Shiloh and now the couple is raising the child together.
The two got together as friends initially when Reid would call her and just drop in to check on her. This casual dropping in to make sure she was okay soon blossomed into friendship that then escalated into a romantic relationship between them. “I started to really recognize her personality and started seeing some gifts in her shine through,” Reid said. “(Despite) the trauma she was going through, her resilience was really showing me a lot about her.” Although Reid was not the first person to start catching feelings for the other one, it was actually Neazer who mentioned that she felt guilty about getting into a relationship so soon after her old one ended especially because it was a death. She didn’t think she deserved to be happy again.
However, she did pledge to have him be a part of her life without it becoming overbearing in guilt for her. “The day before I had Shiloh I was like, ‘I think I’m going to allow him to be more involved,’” she said. “But you have guilt and shame attached to it as a young widow.” Especially after losing her father in the pandemic last year, Neazer thought her daughter wouldn’t have any father figures in her life, but with Reid stepping in to help her out, it really changed the whole thing. His proposal in July would really explain how much he cares for Nezear. Blindfolded and taken to Long Beach, California, she bore witness to a heavily decorated boat, which she assumed led to a birthday party for a friend, but when she saw Reid shaking and proposing the question, she said yes.
Neazer is still reeling from the proposal. “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.” This proposal got her to look back on her time with her ex-husband, Michael and question that she would have never thought she could say yes after going through something so traumatic twice in her life and still come out this happy to say yes to marriage. “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.”
