When Tony’s wife, Jayla Henry, a content creator who is 26 years old, presented him with a present, he was taken aback. He took his time unwrapping the present and eventually revealed a pair of sneakers inside. On either shoe were the words “debt” and “free.” Debt-free? he inquired with a puzzled expression on his face. She let him listen to a recording on her phone. There was a discussion going on at the bank about how she was going to pay off his college loans. As a wave of emotions engulfed him, he was at a loss for words and fighting back tears. Then, she proceeded to tell him, “Yeah. I want you walking around debt-free,” referring to the footwear in question. The video that she uploaded to TikTok quickly became extremely popular, amassing more than 436,000 views and 71,600 likes.
The stay-at-home mother shared the video on social media with the message, “Working hard to set our family up for a great future. Merry Christmas.”
Many young people in the United States are unable to move forward with their lives because of the burden of student loan debt, which often prevents young families from making plans for the future. This was beyond everything that Tony could have hoped for or dreamed of having happen to him. She plays a recording of a conversation regarding the conclusion of the loan that she had with a representative of Sallie Mae and plays it in the video.
“Congratulations to him, he’s one lucky guy,” It is possible to hear the Sallie Mae representative confirming that Jayla had successfully paid off the remaining balance of Tony’s student loan obligation.
Jayla shared her story with BuzzFeed News regarding her gesture, “I’m a big crier, so there were instant tears in my eyes. It also was so special to me that he cried too since he doesn’t do it often. He knew how much of a sacrifice I had to make in order to pay them.”
She went on to say that he was so grateful to her that he couldn’t stop thanking her and that he gave her a bear hug. The college student pair first spoke to one another at a tailgate party. The pandemic turned out to be a significant setback for their goals, as Tony was suddenly laid off from his job. Jayla continued to focus on expanding her social media presence and cultivating partnerships with brands so that she could save money while simultaneously managing all of their household responsibilities.
In addition to that, she devised a strategy to pay off his obligations and set money aside on a regular basis. It was a novel experience for her, especially considering that she had previously held the role of a stay-at-home mother with no outside income. “I wanted to be home with my baby. Not once was I led to feel bad about it — only appreciated for all I did at home and with our son! That alone made me want to pay it back,”…she stated in reference to her husband.
The first chapter in the love story of Jayla and Tony was written when Jayla strolled up to Tony in a casual manner, put her arm around his shoulders, and announced, “I just want to let you know, you’re going to be my husband.”
They have been together for four years now and are happily married. They continue to be as solid as they were before. Tony had no college loans to worry about, so he intends to put his architectural degree to use by using it to construct their very first home together.