We sat down one Saturday afternoon with one task: independently recount our very first memories with one another. We decided we would each tell the story of how 'we' came to be, without discussing or contributing to the other's story. This is what we came up with. Enjoy.

We were studying for a final - Psych and the Law - it was Fall 2013. I went to Grainger Library to meet a friend of mine to study. She was sitting at one of the big wooden tables on the 3rd floor. I sat down and my friend introduced me to Chris, who was sitting directly across from me. I remember 2 things from that day: my friend telling me that Chris drove a red pickup truck, and that Chris knew absolutely nothing about Psych and the Law. I don't think I saw Chris again until we were walking into a meeting for Illinois in Washington - the organization that arranged our semester in D.C. It was raining and I was hustling from another meeting, so I was pretty much a hot mess. He held the elevator for me and said hello, taking me by surprise. Once I realized who he was I reached my hand out to shake his, clearly taking HIM by surprise. We sat beside each other in that IIW meeting, and every meeting after that. I invited him to an 'Around the World' party a few weeks later at my friend, Jelena's - he and Austin came together and then embarrassed themselves playing beer pong. I found out a few weeks later that Chris was seeing our mutual friend who had first introduced us (she and I did not remain friends for much longer). Chris and I moved to D.C. 3 months later (the mutual friend did not, FYI). We lived across the hall from each other, worked together, walked to and from work together (when I woke up on time), ate most meals together, drank most beers together, and even got in a few fights with one another. We flew home together and said some brief goodbyes. The next time I saw him was a few months later around 10:00 in the morning on a weekday - that mutual friend of ours from Psych and the Law had kicked him out of her apartment after he got a little too rowdy on a bar crawl..he was walking home hungover, looking pitiful and in pain so I picked him up and gave him a ride to a friend's. That was May 2015. I don't think we've stopped talking since.

It was Fall 2013 and I was overwhelmed with classes while approaching midterms. My schedule was extreme as I battled through science and labs. I ended up studying at Grainger Library that semester, and that is where I met Megan. Every time I looked up she was looking at me. Turns out we were in the same class. Not long after the finals, Megan invited me to an Around the World Party. I called up none other than Austin Fee to join me on the journey across campus, which he kindly obliged. We didn't know many people, and Austin left after I spent too much time talking to Megan, who looked like Miss Hawaii as she rocked a Hawaiian Hula skirt and a coconut drink. We stayed up late talking until we got kicked out. The party wasn't over, so we snuck into the building next door with other friends and found the hot tub on the roof. I walked home that cold night wearing the same shorts I swam in. A couple months later I was headed to a meeting regarding a semester working in DC. I ran into Megan and we ended up in the same room. We were both accepted into the program and spent all summer on the phone together. We even got an interview at the same place on the same day, and we worked together all Fall. We flew to DC together and walked to the Washington Monument together on the first night. A week later I found out Megan didn't know how to ride a bike, so we rented some and I made her bike the 2 miles back home. She walked most of it, but I loved her anyway (she never knew). After her cooking for me all semester, and waking me up every morning to Taylor Swift's 1989 album, we couldn't stand to be around each other come graduation. 4 years after I met Megan I stood on a snowy mountainside in Gatlingburg, TN with a ring in my pocket. We swore to experience the world together and have since been on 10 trips, visited 2 countries and 18 states. She has given me the best times of my life, and for that reason, we will now show everyone the best time of their lives at our wedding.