If anyone knows me well enough, they know that I never, and I mean NEVER have an umbrella on me when I should. Call it optimistic about the weather or just unprepared, that is the situation I find myself in all too often when it is raining! In August of 2016, I found myself facing a torrential downpour with no umbrella, white shorts, and a 10 minute walk across campus. Needless to say, I arrived at class in a less than fabulous mood and very very wet. As I settled into a 75 min lecture on Government Finance the Bloomington weather gods had another plan. With the severe weather alarms blaring the whole building was forced to funnel into the basement of Ballentine. It was there, wet, cranky and packed like sardines in a lecture hall basement that I first met Max. Although he does not like to admit it, his charm and good looks did not phase me then, but I did decide he was smart and that I could definitely leverage a smart friend in Government Finance. From there we became friends every Monday and Wednesday from 5:30 pm to 6:45 pm. Fast forward to April of the next year and I would officially call Max my boyfriend. To this day I still never have an umbrella, but I do have an amazing soon to be husband who always does.

Our story begins how they so often do, with a massive group of damp, unhappy government finance students in the basement of one of the older buildings on IU’s campus. Forced into a basement level by inclement weather and trading lecture time for cramped and musty conditions was a trade-off I was willing to make, because as one always should, I had an umbrella and was bone dry. This detail assisted on myself being in a wholly better mood than nearly all of my classmates, and was blatantly the case when I saw an incredibly attractive girl standing not far from me who looked like they had dove into a pool and swam to class in her white shorts and IU hat. And when you are soaked and unhappy, who doesn’t want to strike up a conversation with someone who avoided the weather and had the unspeakable, a smile on their face in lite of the present conditions. I don’t know what made me approach Brenna because all social ques and general awareness would tell me that no one in their right mind was in any mood to talk about anything, but just wanted to get back to class and get the next 75 minutes over with and hope the storm had passed by the end. But something made me want to talk to her. Could it have been the boldness of wearing white shorts with a nearly 100% chance of rain? Potentially her inviting semi-frown at being stuck in a basement with 100 other wet students? The world may never know, but as I approached her I quickly realized that I had no idea what to say or how to connect with her in any type of conversation at that moment. What came out with a smirk was along the lines of a jumbled, “So you got stuck in the rain?” Very smooth, Max. A real conversation starter. She was obviously not thrilled by my advance, but humored me in some labored conversation until we went back into the classroom.

After our initial conversation, I made a point to try and sit near Brenna every day in class. We would have some sidebar conversations and talk about class a bit, or weekend plans, where I found out that she was a runner. She may claim that she dealt with me because she thought I might’ve been good in the class, but I’m sure we can all surmise that it was the charm post our inclement weather meeting. Also, the fact that she didn’t need help in the class whatsoever because she is incredibly smart and had no problem with the material. These conversations and walking her by her bus stop after class, which she did not know was not the direction of my house, continued all semester and we got to know each other a little better. As the class wound to an end, I had hopes that I would be seeing her again very soon. As fate or luck would have it, the first day of the last semester I had in college, I walked into Contract Law to see Brenna sitting right there. I had a number of friends in the class, but went straight to sit by Brenna. She had told me previously that she was taking this course, but due to it being an odd naming convention and called a few things, I never connected the dots that this is what she meant. Then, once again, as this semester wound down, I asked Brenna on a “not date” date which turned out to be the worst food we’ve had together, but we both lied and said it was great. The conversation and being there surely helped the food. The rest is history and here we are years later as I am getting ready to marry the love of my life, and I couldn’t be happier with my decision to talk to that girl during the tornado warning who clearly didn’t want to be spoken to. So, when you have your chance, talk to the girl, and always remember your umbrella.