{"id":13979,"date":"2024-01-30T08:24:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T13:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=13979"},"modified":"2024-01-31T15:13:43","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T20:13:43","slug":"colgate-love-stories-yinka-morayinko-barnes-15-and-alex-morayinko-barnes-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2024\/01\/30\/colgate-love-stories-yinka-morayinko-barnes-15-and-alex-morayinko-barnes-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Colgate Love Stories: Yinka Morayinko-Barnes \u201915 and Alex Morayinko Barnes \u201915"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Better Together<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t long into their relationship before Yinka Morakinyo-Barnes \u201915 and Alex Morakinyo-Barnes \u201915 realized how well they worked together under pressure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was Valentine\u2019s Day 2015 and their second official date. After a romantic fireside dinner at the Copper Turret in Morrisville, the couple found themselves stuck in Alex\u2019s Chevy Malibu, which had stalled on the top of a hill \u2014 during a snowstorm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t panic. Alex got out to push while I drove the car,\u201d Yinka recalls. \u201cIt was our first test of working together in a challenging situation, and we were both surprisingly calm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They got the car moving that night \u2014 a bonding moment that also helped move their relationship forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alex and Yinka had met during their FSEM in fall 2011, though their vastly different majors (neuroscience for Alex; a double major in peace and conflict studies and Middle Eastern studies for Yinka) meant that they had rarely crossed paths on campus. But by senior year, they reconnected through mutual friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe started talking and realized there was something more there,\u201d says Alex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their compatibility, they explain, is a classic case of opposites attract: Yinka, a self-confessed \u201ctype A\u201d complements Alex\u2019s more laid-back personality. \u201cAlex is a very calming presence, and I just felt better when I was around him,\u201d says Yinka. And for Alex, Yinka\u2019s drive and ambition \u201cinspired me to be the best version of myself,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon after graduation, the couple secured jobs in Washington, D.C., and moved into their first apartment together, Yinka working for a staffing agency and Alex working as a clinical research coordinator at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. But three years later, they were ready for their next adventure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe felt stuck in the city. It\u2019s a very work-centric culture in D.C., and we wanted to be outside in nature,\u201d says Yinka. \u201cNeither of us had been to Colorado before, and it just felt right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They signed an apartment lease sight unseen and moved to Denver, where they lived for four years, enjoying outdoor sports and weekend hikes \u2014 crossing mountains off a spreadsheet Yinka had developed to ensure they didn\u2019t miss any of the Rocky Mountain State\u2019s best views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was on a hike, in fact, that Alex popped the question. While Yinka knew their relationship was headed in that direction (they had already browsed rings together), the proposal was still a happy surprise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So began the search for a perfect wedding venue. They had envisioned an outdoor space in Maryland or Rhode Island, making it easier for family and friends to attend, when a beautiful walnut tree sold the couple on the venue they ultimately chose \u2014 a farm near Yinka\u2019s hometown in Frederick, Md.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe knew the tree had to be the backdrop for our ceremony,\u201d she says. Alex agreed that the bucolic setting was the perfect fit for their May 2021 wedding, an outdoor celebration with plenty of Colgate friends, family, and chilly weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it was the coldest May on record in Maryland,\u201d says Yinka. \u201cBut nobody seemed to care. It was perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As they had planned their wedding, Yinka and Alex were also making other big plans \u2014 for a move back east. They wanted to put down roots, and they both agreed it was hard to imagine starting a family so far from their parents and friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By spring 2022, they were back in Maryland, this time as homeowners in suburban Columbia, and, according to plan, Yinka and Alex soon expanded their family. They welcomed baby Zakai in September 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After nearly a decade since the snowy Valentine\u2019s Day car fiasco, the couple finds they still work well together in challenging situations \u2014 including, most recently, the ultimate challenge of new parenthood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe split things pretty 50-50 and take turns sleeping next to the bassinet,\u201d Yinka says. \u201cIt\u2019s been difficult, of course. But pretty incredible too.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It wasn\u2019t long into their relationship before Yinka Morakinyo-Barnes \u201915 and Alex Morakinyo-Barnes \u201915 realized how well they worked together under pressure.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1263,"featured_media":14211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2,6],"tags":[1993,1992,1995,279,1994],"coauthors":[1720],"class_list":["post-13979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alumni-news","category-alumni-updates","category-colgate-love-stories","tag-colgate-couple","tag-colgate-love","tag-middle-eastern-stduies","tag-neuroscience","tag-peace-and-conflict"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-3Dt","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/01\/PregnantRevise.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1263"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13979"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14212,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13979\/revisions\/14212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13979"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=13979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}