Celebrate with us!

We “met” on the Knox Class of 2016 Facebook Page in the summer of 2012. Holden posted an intro saying that he (1) loved musical theater, (2) played the piano, and (3) liked to run. If you know Holden, then you know that 2 of the 3 were exaggerations to make Holden look "cool" (by Knox College standards). Lucky for Holden, Julie saw his introduction and was intrigued by this piano-playing, 5K-running, musical theater nerd. She decided to keep an eye out for him at Knox because she had a hunch that this Holden Meier was somebody worth knowing. Fast forward to our first year at Knox. We were both active in the theater department and took some of the same classes, but we never really interacted. At least, not until Julie noticed that Holden was listening to a lot of her favorite obscure Off-Broadway musicals (this was back when Facebook used to show what you were listening to on Spotify). Julie finally messaged Holden to tell him that she loved his taste in musicals, we exchanged numbers, and a friendship started to form. In an effort to spend more time with Holden, Julie started hanging out with some of Holden’s friends and sitting with them at lunch. Over time, our friendship became stronger and we became less awkward around each other. (It didn’t hurt that we were paired up in acting class and had to rehearse a romantic scene together every week!). Then, on February 7th, 2014, we were eating lunch in the Knox Cafeteria. Holden got up to get dessert and came back with one peanut butter cookie. “Do you want this cookie?” Holden asked. Not wanting to take Holden’s only dessert – because there was only one cookie on his plate – Julie said, “No thank you.” To which Holden replied, “Well that’s awkward...because the plan was that I would offer you a cookie, and when you accepted, I would say that you could only have it if you agreed to go on a date with me.” Julie laughed, took the cookie, and agreed to go on a date with Holden one week later – on Valentine’s Day.