The Speeds

The invisible string theory suggests that everyone is connected to their soulmate by an unseen thread- a bond that may stretch, tangle, or fray, but never breaks. No matter the distance, timing, or circumstances, that string ensures the universe brings the destined pair back together at exactly the right moment. * For us, it's hard to remember life without each other. We met in 1st grade at St. Barts, probably over a competitive game of tetherball or whatever six-year-olds do. Seven years later, after passing notes in class and confessing crushes in diary pages, our middle-school romance began. Just two awkward 13-year-olds holding hands at Kings Island and sitting on swings at church festivals. When we split for separate high schools, we assumed that was the end of it… just a grade-school fling among tweens. That is, until seven years later during the summer of 2017. Eight weeks before sophomore move in weekend at UC, Libby and her roommates were placed in a cramped, questionable, basement “apartment” miles from campus. Cue the frantic search for an available place in Clifton in the dead of summer… truly a nightmare. Lo and behold, the girls fell in love with what would soon be known as Auburndale- their first real home. Flash forward to the first Friday in August, move-in was a success now it's time to celebrate. On the walk to Woody's happy hour (obviously), the girls heard a “Hey ladiesss!!!” from behind them. Alex may not have been the one yelling, but he was the one who caught Libby’s eye- and vice versa. “I just transferred here from OU, and we moved into that apartment on Auburn. Looks like we’re neighbors!” Words that catapulted a friendship for the next year, filled with nostalgic storytelling, swapping old photos of our eighth-grade “relationship,” and denying any and all crush rumors… though clearly, we were lying. & The rest is history... Eight years later, we owe everything to fate, our invisible string, the magic of Auburndale, and our 13-year-old selves, who knew long before we did. In June of 2025, after a spring filled with a few health hurdles, Alex knew that this invisible string needed a knot. He proposed during sunset at his family’s lake house- proof that sometimes your middle-school crush really is the one.