Yes, it's true! We're finally getting married!

A large group of people from our dorms at Oregon State went to see the late night showing of the first Matrix sequel when it was first released late October 2003. After the movie, we all converged at the local Shari's restaurant for a late dinner and hang out. My group sat around a large round table, and during the conversations and some of the kids making a mess tossing sugar packets at each other across the table, my eyes caught the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Someone who was mostly quiet and was obviously as annoyed as I was with all the sugar packet shenanigans that was going on. I didn't know who she was but I knew I had to find out, and I was going to find out. I asked a couple people in the group what her name was, and they said her name was Laura, and she lived on the same floor as I did at our dorm. Over the next couple of months, as we were returning to campus from Christmas break, we had a major ice storm blow through. My roommates and I were chilling in our dorm apartment when a group stopped by and said they were heading outside with their Rubbermaid totes and cardboard to go sledding down the hills on campus. I had no desire to go with them, until I saw Laura poke her head in our door to see what was going on. I immediately jumped up off the couch, put my coat on and said to myself, "now's my chance to finally talk to her." After some of the kids did some sledding, we ended up in the courtyard of our library and a big snowball fight ensued. In all the chaos, I ended up plopping a big ball of snow on top of Laura's head. Laura's friend Betty saw what I had done, and said to me, "get over here mister and bend over." Betty then grabbed an armful of snow and ice and plopped it on top of my head, making things even for Laura. Even though I could tell Laura was a little irked at me, she laughed like crazy when Betty got sweet revenge on me, and that was my goal, to get her attention and to get her to laugh. We had a fun conversation on our way back to our dorms and I walked her back to her room. For me, love at first sight had been confirmed, and I couldn't wait to get to know Laura more. Then on January 14, 2004, we shared our first kiss, and that was the beginning of our journey together. Come our wedding day, we will have been together for over 21 years. Eighteen of those years we lived an hour and a half away from each other, with thousands of miles driven to see each other every other weekend. When we got back together in January 2019 after a 16-month break, we knew we were meant to be together. I still get excited whenever Laura enters the room, as I get the same feelings now as I did when I first saw her sitting across that table from me at Shari's. Our journey has just begun.