In a school as small as Saint Michael's College, it was inevitable that we would eventually meet one another. What we didn't anticipate is that two Long Island kids would be paired as O-Leaders to welcome the newest class of first year students. What we also didn't anticipate is that our families had met one another at registration day prior to our first year solely because they were sitting at the same table. In Christina's typical stubborn fashion she refused to meet the boy from Long Island that her dad mentioned to her. We went on with our first year of college, never running into each other despite having a lot of the same interests meaning skiing and snowboarding. We continued this trend of never mingling until our friend groups began to merge while Christina was studying abroad in Spain. When she came back Luke was then studying in Australia. Our friend groups grew closer and when we received our O-Leader matches, we were finally going to meet. Christina finally met the boy from Long Island (if you haven't guessed, it was Luke). After the fun of orientation and being an awesome partnership we hung out on weekends but rarely weekdays because Christina was always doing homework so says Luke. Luke called Christina up one night and asked her if she would like to go to a wedding with him. Christina naturally had to think about it as it was out of the state and ultimately decided yes. Luke failed to mention he was in the wedding party leaving Christina to meet about 1000 family members on the first date with Luke nowhere to be found. Christina and Luke are forever grateful she said yes to that date.

Luke asked Christina to marry him on the beautiful island of St John in the Virgin Islands. The Graci family has been going to their happy place of St. John together for the past 20+ years (they even have a dog from there!) Christina was invited to join the family vacation in 2015 and has been back about 5 times now. We set off for the beach the day after Easter packed into the Jeep with everyone in their seats and Christina in the trunk with the snorkels, beach bags, chairs and cooler. Christina didn't notice anything was off despite everyone being a little weirder than usual. While sitting on the beach post swim, Christina asked if anyone wanted to have a drink (first of many this day) and the group agreed it was a good time for a drink. Luke asked Christina if she wanted to go for a walk to go check out the beach. Christina really wanted to finish her drink. After what seemed like a never-ending drink, Luke finally was going to get down on one knee (after 9 1/2 years). We walked down the beach and Luke got down on one knee and asked the question. We're still not sure if Christina said yes because the moment was that shocking. It was so shocking that Christina needed to lay down and take a mindful moment (gotta practice what you preach). A while later after hugs with our awesome film crew, we saw Luke's parents walking down towards us and behind them, Christina's parents. The two families celebrated nearly becoming one for the next few days on island time.