Our story starts months before we ever talked. We first met right before she went to Spain but, our first moment together was coming home from a visit to KU. After that we only had to spend time together twice before things took a turn for the best. Over the next months, we slowly became inseparable and as our friendship grew so did my feelings for her. All of this came to a culmination July 3rd. Rachel asked me why I hadn’t made her my girlfriend yet, to which I responded, “I don’t know, just waiting for the right time I guess.” Well, turns out the perfect time was midnight, so we started dating July 4th. After this she promptly told me that she loved me. I later found out this is why she wanted me to ask her out… so she didn’t tell me she loved me before we were dating. Since then, we’ve both grown so much and we’re still just as inseparable as when we started. I love you Rachel Danae Nansiima Slocum.

Falling in love with Loren was the most unexpected gift I didn’t know I needed. We met through the Ronald E. McNair program in October of 2022, we like to say that we didn’t know that the other existed until April of 2023. You see, I decided to leave the country for 3 months to go explore Europe and work through challenges that had come up in my life. God knew that I was not ready in October to accept this amazing man. After I got back from my study abroad trip we went to visit KU with the McNair program, on the trip up there he requested the song “golden hour” - we exchanged contacts and as some would say, the rest is history. I never expected to fall so fully and completely in love with someone. From the outside looking into our relationship, we moved fast. Talked for 3 months, dated for 6, got engaged, and get married in May - less than a year of dating. For us, it’s our perfectly imperfect love story. Loren is not only the funniest person I know, he is the smartest, most genuine, hard working person. He loves with everything he’s got and takes care of me with such pride and gentleness. God has been so good to us and all the glory goes to him. Hey Fiancée: I can’t wait to take your last name and spend the rest of my life showing you just how much I love you 💛