We're getting married!

I first saw Luke on the bus to Collegebound, a pre-orientation wilderness trip before our freshman year at Saint Ben’s and Saint John’s. He was the big smiley dude doing what he does best: “holding court” and hamming it up with new friends. We first got to know each other on the first year retreat, when Luke saw Sarah Minnehan (bridesmaid) and I talking down by the lake. A great wing woman, she left us to talk in the rain for a few hours. I knew he was flirting, but I didn’t really know how to flirt back. Then on, we were friends. Sophomore year, Luke and I ate breakfast together every morning before Public Speaking class. Sarah can confirm that when she asked me about boys that semester, I talked about Luke. Nothing of interest happened until we were abroad the next year. Even though I was in Austria and he was in Greece/Rome, we saw each other a few times. We hung out at Oktoberfest, then again when I visited Rome, and then when Luke visited Austria. He even got up extra early to go to church with me on top of the mountains. In an iconic Instagram post, he ended a video of the mountains with a shot of my face and captioned the view “pretty pretty pretty.” Interpret as you wish. On my twenty first birthday, back in the US, he told some of my friends (with a little liquid courage) that he wanted to ask me out. Sara Timmerman (bridesmaid) did some super subtle recon work, and she reported back to him that—hypothetically speaking—I would say yes. When I was on the way to the gym, I saw Luke on his way to a Student Senate meeting in a full suit. While I was in the middle of a sentence, he cut me off: “do you want to go on a date with me?” I said yes. The rest of junior year, we went on dates, and I worked on not being awkward. I should have worked a little harder. We both worked on campus that summer, and had lots of fun hanging out, playing cards, and dreaming about where our relationship would take us.

Maddie dumped me the night before senior year. Needless to say, it came out of nowhere. Starting off on the right foot, I spent most of that fall listening to my sad boy playlist and leaving the bar early to avoid her. Maddie still had my hammock, which I unsuccessfully used as a pretense to talk things through. Before I could muster up the courage, she gave it to Jack Barsody (best man) and he dropped it off at my house. Despite my shattered heart, senior year flew by. Maddie got into her PhD program and graduated with a higher GPA than me, but I got a better grade in Shakespeare. Within a month of graduating, I left to teach in Bogota, Colombia as a member of the Benedictine Volunteer Corps with eyes toward the future, planning to leave old girlfriends behind. I got an email from Maddie in September. It was just a polite catch up. Confused, but resistantly interested, I responded. She didn’t answer back. I got another email on my birthday. Maddie finally responded—in the same thread from September. I figured she was just emailing me as another quick check-in. I responded the same day, and to my surprise, Maddie sent another email. After a few back-and-forth messages, Maddie asked to FaceTime. At this point, a dangerous thought took root in the back of my mind: we’re getting back together. We talked for three hours, and while we covered a lot of things, the most important thing was that she said she still had feelings for me. We decided to keep taking. Enter March 2020. I fled Colombia days before the country shut down all land, air, and sea borders. Maddie ended up back in Iowa to finish up her semester online, and I went back to Woodbury, MN, which left us a mere three and a half hours apart. Not wanting to let a pandemic squash young love, we met up for outdoor picnics in Albert Lea and Clear Lake like two fugitives. Accounts may differ, but by at least May 1st, 2020, Maddie and I were back together.

We spent three glorious months together as a real-life couple. Maddie lived in Eagan, MN at her aunt and uncle’s (Crissy and Brian’s) for the summer, and Luke lived with his parents in Woodbury. We enjoyed the normal things, like going places and seeing each other. Enter long distance. We have a love/hate relationship with electronic communication. The screens can be a bit much, but we both knew our relationship was (is) worth it. Luckily, covid came with extra-long breaks for Maddie and some flexibility with online learning for Luke, which meant that we got to stretch out our time together. After a little over a year, we planned a trip to Myrtle Beach, SC to meet somewhere a little more exciting than Syracuse or Minneapolis. At 1:00 in the morning, during unseasonably cold and windy weather, Luke proposed on the beach and Maddie happily accepted. We’ve been enjoying engagement ever since, and can’t wait to celebrate with you all this summer! All our love, Maddie and Luke The Future Olleys