I was accepted into the dental hygiene program at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and was set to start in the Fall of 2013. Luke was about to start his senior year there in the mining engineering program. One night before the semester started, a group of girls and I went to Pinch Penny's. I saw Luke there with a group of his friends and remember thinking that he was super cute and I was interested immediately, but Luke was definitely not. He was all "too cool for school" since he had just gotten back from a Summer internship in Arizona. I would see him periodically on campus since our buildings were connected but never stopped and talked to him. Fast forward a few months and I ended up seeing him out again one night and very bravely asked if he would be my patient at the hygiene clinic. He swiftly replied no because he was already someone else's patient (he was totally lying). We ended up chatting the rest of the night and while sitting at the notorious Saluki Express bus stop, I gave him my number. Our first date was at his apartment where Luke cooked me a home-cooked meal. We hung out a lot and starting dating not too long afterwards, and we have been together ever since!

Luke and I had been dating about 4 months or so when Luke graduated from SIU and had plans to move to Iowa to start his career. We both liked each other a lot and wanted to give the long-distance thing a shot. I would visit him frequently and he had no objections to coming back to visit me since he got to see his family and friends as well. We made it work and I moved to Iowa when I graduated in 2016. We both knew that if we could survive a long-distance relationship for a few years, and then tackle living together many miles away from anyone we knew, that we would surely end up married. A job change for Luke, a move to Kansas City, a pretty traumatic family experience, and COVID-19 later, 2021 finally came and it was welcomed with arms wide open. Luke and I would do brunch every now and then, even when living in Iowa- it's kind of our thing. We got ready for our first brunch of 2021 and right before we left the house, Luke got down on one knee and asked if I would be his FIANCE for 2021 brunches. (So cute, right?)