I met Chelsea during my freshman year at OSU, in an introductory software class. Met is probably a strong word, because we talked once. I was trying very hard not to be *that guy* who immediately talks up the one girl in a CSE class, so when she tapped me on the shoulder one day and asked me a question, I explained the answer, made sure she got it, and then went back to my work. And that probably would have been the end of it; we finished the semester and never really talked again. When we met again in the boxing club, I only vaguely recognized her. After realizing we shared a major and several classes, albeit at different times, we exchanged numbers to share notes and homework. We would talk occasionally at boxing practice and see each other at club parties but nothing consistent.

I remember Nat in my software class; he was always finishing labs early. One day our professor told us to discuss a problem with the people around us. I asked Nat if he understood anything she was saying and, luckily for me, he did. He explained it to me and then we never talked in that class again. I didn't think anything of it at the time. During the next semester the president of boxing club, a coworker of mine, finally talked me into joining the club. We were warming up one day and Nat asked me where he knew me from and we realized it was software class. For the rest of that semester we spent warmups complaining about professors and classes.

Things stayed very much as they were until late in Autumn semester. As finals were coming up, Chelsea asked me if I wanted to study for stats with her. I did not. At all. Not because of her, I just was not someone who ever bothered studying. Also, what was I even going to study? I had spent all semester skipping stats and getting the attendance code from a classmate. Our stats professor was horrible and no one knew what was happening, so I just figured I'd bank on the curve boosting me to a decent grade. But Chelsea was pretty cool and it seemed like something I probably should at least try to do. So I agreed to meet her at the RPAC and get some studying done. We sat there for 8 hours and studied exactly nothing. Maybe 30 minutes of stats, tops. The rest of that time was spent talking about ourselves, our families, and everything that brought us here. Among other things, I learned that despite her test anxiety she was a much better student than I was; that she had an amazing laugh, even though she hated it; and that despite his best attempts as an avid fan of TTUN, her dad had raised her right and she was an even bigger OSU Football fanatic than I was. After one day of not studying, I knew I wanted to get to know her better.

Nat and I continued talking here and there in boxing. In the next semester I found out we had the same stats professor. When finals came I asked him if he wanted to study with me. We met at the RPAC and we barely talked about stats. I think we each wrote the cheat sheet we got and that was it. We talked about everything else though. I learned that he was a Navy kid who grew up everywhere; he told me about his grandpa's story immigrating from India; I appreciated that even though he was clearly a huge nerd, he still cared a lot about OSU football. I can't remember everything we talked about, but I remember how easy he was to talk to. He made me laugh the entire day and 8 hours of "studying" flew by. While the study session did nothing for my stats grade, it was very well worth it. I had an amazing day and couldn't wait to hangout again.

Coming back from winter break, Chelsea and I actually had a class together. Our ECE lecture was completely useless. The professor spoke in a whisper in a 350 person lecture hall and refused to use a microphone. Under normal circumstances, I never would have bothered attending lecture because outside of the first 2 rows it was impossible to hear anything. But Chelsea is not a skip lecture kind of person. So I showed up every day, sat in the very back row with her, and we talked while we worked on other classwork. Since she had a work shift at the RPAC after lecture, I would walk with her across campus to the RPAC, get lunch with her before her shift, and then walk back across campus to where we had just come from to attend my next class. Apparently, I needed to make it more obvious that I was interested in her because the signs "just weren't there".

During the next semester we had am ECE class together. I always thought Nat was a good student and that's why he came to class; according to him that was not the case at all. We would sit in the back and usually I would ask him for help on some homework. After class he would walk with me to the RPAC to grab some lunch before my shift. He claims it was super obvious that he was interested in me at this point, but I disagree. A month into the semester I invited him to my 21st birthday party and that was the night I finally realized that he was interested in something more than just friendship and we've been together ever since.

After a very eventful 21st birthday party, Chelsea and I became inseparable. I spent the rest of my sophomore year staying at her place, mostly because I was dying to cook my own food again and she had a kitchen; she was happy to take the live-in chef. Since then we have been partners in everything. Together we tackled family health issues and failing classes, a third case of mono, weathered COVID together in a 100 square foot dining room, decided that after that we could probably move in together to finish college, survived semi-long distance in Dayton, bought our own home in Columbus, took over as head and assistant coach of the boxing team, and most recently survived a 3 month kitchen remodel. If dating Chelsea for the last 6 (soon 7) years has taught me anything, it's that I cannot imagine a better partner to spend the rest of my life with.