it's a love story...

Okay. Let's set the scene. It's junior year of college and the Phi Lamb (my sorority) spring formal is right around the corner. After contemplating going, I decided to go because why the heck not? I wore an old dress from high school (..yeah, I know. I'm a clothes hoarder), so that might tell you how much of a last minute decision this was. Fast forward to the night of formal. I vividly remember sitting in the car on the way to the dance with Skylar Hobbs (bridesmaid/bestie) and Bree Rians (twin/maid of honor) thinking to myself... should we just tap out? The event was at the Majestic Metro in Houston, so I wasn't super familiar with the area and wasn't feeling the whole vibe. But.. shocker. We ended up going! Here's the iconic movie moment. I'm dancing (very awkwardly) and just hanging with my girls, and my friend Marissa Landaverde comes up to me in the middle of the dance floor and says something along the lines of: "Hey Maggie, this might be kinda weird, but my friend thinks you're cute. Do you want to talk to him?" I said "Why not?!". I was a bit nervous because there was a slow song playing and I was not prepared to dance with a stranger (we didn't end up dancing to the song, by the way). Soo.. Marissa ended up introducing me to Luke. I always joke about this moment and tell him that he was "shaking like a leaf". We had some small talk about high school and football, which is SO Luke if you know him. I ended up asking "So, do you want my number?" Yep, you heard it here. I asked for his number! I tease him about it to this day. I remember leaving that night thinking "Well, I might have just met my future husband." I kid you not. That thought crossed my mind... like what. Luke texted me the next day and asked if I wanted to get coffee (he doesn't even like coffee!) or lunch.. so we end up getting Rudy's Barbecue... and the rest is history!!! I found my Aggie in good ol' College Station, TX (... technically Houston?) - Maggie

I'm leaving my parents' house to go to the Phi Lamb formal at the Majestic Metro in Downtown Houston with some friends. As I'm leaving my dad says something to the effect of "get a girl's number tonight" to which I replied something like "okay I will" even though I had no intention of actually doing so. We get to the formal and I have no expectations of having a good time because I don't dance and have no desire to watch other people dance to bad pop music. After standing around for a bit, I spot a girl across the dance floor. I asked if any of my friends knew her and they did. I said to hook me up and they replied "she's out of your league" (I have supportive friends). A few minutes later, I'm standing along waiting for my friends to stop socializing with other people. Someone taps on my shoulder and I turn around to see my friend Marissa standing there with the pretty girl I had pointed out. Marissa introduced her as Maggie and left us to talk. There was some small talk and Maggie mentioned that she went to Allen High School. Naturally, this led to a minute long conversation about their absurdly expensive football stadium (mostly me excitedly asking questions about it and her probably thinking "what did I get myself into here"). Somehow after all that, she asked for my number. Seems like something I should be embarrassed about but I support feminism and I'm not ashamed. Anyway, fast forward to the next day - I go back to College Station and decide I'm going to text Maggie after Game 4 of the Rockets-Thunder first round series (we won). Bad move on my part because I texted her exactly when she started scooping ice cream at work but what can ya do. Anyway we texted and set up a date for three days later. We went to Rudy's and hit it off. I knew within the month that we would get married and here we are. Moral of the story - if you talk to a pretty girl at a dance and want her to ask for your number, make sure you talk about her high school's football stadium.

Luke had planned a trip to College Station with a big group of our friends. I genuinely had NO IDEA that he was going to propose.. but he did that. Long story short: He proposed under the gazebo at George Bush Library. This place was special to us because we would go on cute lil d8s + just chill here throughout college. After he proposed, we went to the Century Tree and he gave me a letter he wrote a couple months after we started dating. It started off by saying "If you're reading this then we're engaged!!!!". Luke knew that I was the one super early on :') .. .so sweeeeeet. Did I? Well, you'll have to ask me all about that in person. ;-) Thanks God for orchestrating all of this so beautifully.

Luke is my person + it's so evident that God chose him for me. He understands me more than I understand myself. I've learned (and I learn more everyday) so much about myself through this relationship. He challenges me, loves me well, and fights the good fight with me. Ugh.. he's great. We're both so weird and love live music (go to a concert with us sometime!), love plants and a good aesthetic, and all things Disney. I seriously never knew that a Luke existed before I met him. If you know him, then you might know what I'm talking about. He's just a fun dude. I'll stop there because words are hard sometimes. Are you cringing yet? Good!

...Maggie is worth it. I knew extremely early on that I would marry Maggie. However, they (idk who but they) say you should be together for at least 18 months to make sure you get out of the "honeymoon phase" of dating. Thankfully 18 months came and went and I was still finding new things to love about Maggie. She is so hard-working, loves giving to others, is genuinely a caring and sweet person and above all loves Jesus. Maggie is definitely not afraid to tell me when I'm wrong. This is an important quality considering I never think I'm wrong. I'm very glad God placed Maggie in my life and thankful she is willing to love me. More importantly, thank God she is an Aggie because I'm not sure how I'd deal if she wasn't. Can't wait to gig 'em with you forever!!!