As of now, most people have heard the story but we are always happy to tell it over and over again! West Liberty is a pretty small campus, so you would see the same people on a daily basis. Layne would see Ben in the cafeteria and at parties. She didn't approach him until late in their first semester (2015) but always thought he was cute. Late fall there was a football tailgate that they were both at. They had mutual friends and Layne saw that they were hanging out near one another, she told one of their friends to have Ben come talk to her. Ben eventually comes over to Layne, she is very excited to finally meet him, buuuuut all he says when he walks over is: “Hi, I’m Ben” then walks away. At this point, Layne thinks Ben is a play-boy and is uninterested. A couple of days later, they are at the same party and she sees another mutual friend so she tells him to tell Ben to come talk to her…again. Ben takes his good ol’ time coming to talk to her, he is talking to some other girls and friends which leads Layne to believe he is definitely uninterested. To Layne’s surprise, Ben comes to talk to her. They spend the rest of the time talking and getting to know one another. Layne then learns that Ben is just a very shy boy that was nervous to talk to a pretty girl. After that night they both knew that there was something special between them. Layne told her mom about Ben a week after they met, but Ben being the shy boy he is, told his family over Christmas break when his brother noticed he was on his phone a lot and asked who he was talking to. From then on, they attended each others sporting events (soccer and baseball), met the families, and fell more and more in love everyday. Ben and Layne have been with each other for over seven years now, through undergraduate, PA school, Ben’s grad school, COVID, and a move to NC. They live in Cary with the light of their lives, Eve, the best cat ever. Layne works as a Psychiatric Physician Assistant and Ben works as a Station Manager for Enterprise. WE CANNOT WAIT TO CELEBRATE WITH EVERYONE!