John and I met our sophomore year of college in our dorm hallway. My roommate, Rebecca, recognized him from her math class and introduced us. He was wearing a cartoon T-shirt and basketball shorts (his style hasn’t changed much in nine years). I told him our friends hang out in our room most of the time and our door is usually open, so he should come by. He took me up on the offer. I asked him if anyone ever called him “John Don.” He said no, I said it seemed like a missed opportunity, and I asked if I could call him John Don. That became his nickname for the rest of college. John was (and is) the kind of person that made every situation a little better just by being there. I would seek him out when I was having a bad day, not to talk about it but just to be around him, because in his presence, the world feels a little less scary and the weight on my shoulders feels a little lighter. It was true then, and it’s true now. John had a long-distance girlfriend when we met. I liked him long before I could do anything about it. In the meantime, we became good friends. We would pass notes in Social Psych and race up and down the steps of the basketball arena on walks back from class. One time, we went to McDonalds for milkshakes and, on our way back, we noticed someone had put a couch in the dorm elevator. We sat on that couch with our shakes and rode the elevator up and down like it was a ride. Life was just better with him. The day he announced his breakup on Facebook, at least three people came to my room to tell me the news. Everyone knew we liked each other, and there was an unspoken understanding that we would get together one day. When we talked about it, I told him I would be here whenever he was ready and left the next move up to him. The change in our relationship was slow and seamless. We took the friendship we had and added to it, piece by piece, until we became what we are. Loving him is the easiest thing in the world.

Juliana and I both lived on the same floor sophomore year of college. I liked to stand in the hallway like a weirdo. She liked to invite people in. We met that way (I actually met her roommate first, she was a math major like me haha)! Everyone on the floor went to Denny's one of the first weekends when we were off because of a "hurricane" that didn't hit us, and people on the floor quizzed me about all of their names. I'm very bad at names. I was able to go around and name all approximately 16 people from the floor I met that week, EXCEPT for Juliana! Naturally, we've been together ever since! Lol, we actually got to know each other as really good friends all of that year, and right before summer we ended up dating. And here we are, like 8.5 years later! Getting married! 'Bout time, right!?!