St. Petersburg, Fla. - In a year where the motto is clearly: Stay apart, stay home, be socially distant; new love just seems out of the question.

For Alicia Henry, a local model and beauty business owner, the year seemed hopeless.  

Norman Harris, a local lawyer, was in the same boat.

“I might have told friends that, ‘Well I know I won’t be getting a girlfriend or a wife anytime soon.’ Because my idea was that I would find somebody when I am out and about, not when I am actually home on a shutdown," said Harris. 

But as the saying goes, sometime love finds us when we least expect it. 

“That is the crazy part to me, I never would have thought in a million years from home in a shutdown, I would find the love of my life," said Harris, as he looks over to a smiling Alicia Henry. 

In a true change of life, the two went from strangers at the start of 2020 to engaged by the end of it. 

“No, we didn’t know each other at the beginning of the year," said Henry. 

In April, with the push from friends, the two exchanged messages via social media. Those messages then lead to phone calls. 

During one phone call Harris told Henry, how he even was encouraged to make a list that year of what he wanted in a wife. 

Alicia Henry and Norman Harris met during the pandemic and became engaged. (Spectrum News image) 

“I was very hesitant to do the list, because I had never done anything like that before. But I out of obedience, I said, OK I will do it," said Harris. "But then, I had his first conversation with Alicia, and I’m like wait a minute, I believe she is a ten out of ten.” 

With the pandemic in full force, they both knew meeting up was out of the question in the beginning. By June, they were ready to chance a meet up. 

“Right when he was like, 'I would like to get to actually meet you in person, can we meet soon?' I actually ended up getting Covid," said Henry. 

Plans to meet put on hold again, while Henry fought the disease plaguing the planet. It was tough for Harris to still stay away, but he managed to find ways to help a women he knew was special. 

“Friendship is being there for somebody," said Harris. "I distinctly remember asking the question over and over, ‘What is it that I can do to help?’” 

He sent supportive texts, bought medicine, dropped off food, anything to keep Henry staying positive for those weeks in quarantine.

“He was definitely there for me,"said Henry. “Everyday I would open up the door and there would be something there for me from him. And I was like, ‘Wow.’ I haven’t even met him in person and he is doing all this for me. We built a connection definitely, but that definitely made it a lot stronger.” 

Finally by July, Henry got the negative tests she needed for the two to finally go on their first date and meet face to face for the first time. It only took one date for Harris to know - this was the one. 

”This happened at a time that was least expected, so it is like something is going on very powerful, but at the same time it’s unbelievable," said Harris. 

Come August, on Henry's birthday, a surprise proposal was planned by Harris. Henry was blinded folded, walked out onto the beach by friends where she saw Harris down on one knee. There was no doubt her answer would be yes. 

“I am thankful that I had enough discerning to know when to seize the moment, and I seized it," said Harris. “You have to meet each other where we are and make the best of it, and that is what we did.”