Met: Fall 2006, La Costa was visiting Hopewell Baptist Church in Birmingham, which Jerry attended, to rehearse for an annual gospel concert and Jerry sat in on the rehearsal.

Jerry said he noticed La Costa had participated in his church’s concert two years in a row and remembered who she was when she in-boxed him on Facebook.

The turn: La Costa said she first met Jerry’s grandmother during a trip to Belle Sumter, Ala. in 2008 for his uncles’ funeral.

It was her first time meeting his grandmother and while La Costa and Jerry were sitting in the family room his grandmother kept commenting that La Costa would be her granddaughter … “we were talking and I didn’t have my grandmother anymore so it was nice,” La Costa said.

“We went up there for Jerry’s cousin’s wedding and spent some time alone celebrating ourselves,” said La Costa, “We went to Coney Island [a restaurant chain] and had the best hot dogs…”

Words of wisdom:  Not to ever stop dating, La Costa said.