Allie & Glenn
Allie & Glenn
December 2018:
Glenn and Allie match on Tinder. Allie is in her 2nd year of medical school in the MD/PhD program at UNC Chapel Hill (and thus has about 6.5 years left in school). Glenn is living and working in Durham, but is also plotting to go spend a bunch more years in school.
January 2019:
Glenn and Allie have their first date at Vecino, a brewery in Carrboro, NC. Glenn crushes it.
January 2019:
Glenn is accepted to the Computer Science PhD program at the University of Wisconsin (go Badgers!), cementing that Glenn and Allie’s relationship is just a short-term casual thing.
January-April 2019:
Mostly just Glenn bringing Allie takeout and the couple watching Netflix together while Allie studies for Step 1 of the medical licensing exams and completes her surgery rotation.
May 2019:
Glenn and Allie play the game Fog of Love at Atomic Fern, a board game bar in Durham (at the time, RIP). They use the pseudonyms Gregg (Allie) and Zelda (Glenn). Gregg (Allie) immediately discards the “unconditional love” card because it “seemed like a bad strategy.”
May 2019:
Glenn last-minute invites Allie to his parents’ house in Brevard, NC, on Memorial Day weekend to go to the White Squirrel Festival. Both Glenn and Allie are mildly surprised when she accepts. Parcheesi is played. Feelings are felt. On the car ride back to Durham/Chapel Hill, Allie suggests being “boyfriend/girlfriend for the summer” until Glenn leaves for Wisconsin. Glenn says yes.
June 2019:
Glenn and Allie go to the Outer Banks on the coast of North Carolina for their last hurrah as a couple. More feelings are felt.
July 2019:
Upon returning from the beach, Allie suggests dating long distance once Glenn moves to Wisconsin. Glenn says yes.
July 2019:
Allie helps Glenn move his stuff in a Budget truck to a storage unit in Madison, WI, to store there until he starts grad school. Glenn is highly organized and completely prepared for the move, so everything goes smoothly.
July 2019:
Allie brings Glenn to the annual Bukowski family vacation to Ogunquit, Maine (a big step, but if they are doing the whole long-distance thing, then he might as well meet the family). More feelings are felt.
August 2019:
Allie makes the first transition of her MD/PhD program and starts a PhD in Epidemiology at UNC, thus leaving the work hard/play hard world of medical school for the work slow/question everything world of academia.
August 2019:
Glenn moves to Wisconsin, marking the start of what the couple anticipates will be 5-6 years of long distance.
September 2019 - March 2020:
Allie and Glenn take turns visiting each other every month or so. In between, they remotely watch a lot of TV together.
March 2020:
COVID hits while Allie is visiting Glenn in Wisconsin. They decide to go from long-distance to incredibly-short-distance, each continuing their PhD programs virtually from an alternating choice of 400 sq. ft. apartment (taking the 15-hour drive between Madison, WI, and Carrboro, NC, together every couple of months).
February 2021:
Glenn decides to “Master out” of his Computer Science PhD program when he is accepted to the PhD program in Statistics at Duke.
May 2021:
Glenn graduates with his (second) Master’s degree, and Allie hits the halfway mark in her 8-year graduate program. The couple celebrates with a 4-week road trip out West. They visit, hike, and camp across Utah, California, Oregon, Idaho, and Wyoming, seeing many beautiful parks and some old friends (but thankfully no bears).
June 2021:
Allie and Glenn (officially) move in together in Durham!
August 2021:
Glenn begins his PhD program in Statistics (his third round at Duke).
March-April 2022:
The NCAA men’s basketball tournament was surprisingly dull, with no games of much interest to the couple.
September 2022:
Allie lives in Peru for a month learning Spanish (and “working on her dissertation”). Glenn and Frankie hang out a lot.
March 2023:
Allie successfully defends her PhD dissertation and becomes Dr. Bukowski!
May 2023:
Allie graduates from her PhD program. Glenn and Allie backpack through the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, fording streams and encountering a family of wild boars (but thankfully no bears). They happen upon the Bush’s Baked Bean Factory and visit Dollywood!
June 2023:
Allie returns to medical school to finish her final two years of the MD/PhD.
September 2023:
Glenn mysteriously texts Allie's dad to "chat" (so he can ask for his blessing to propose). They talk over coffee and then have a celebratory brunch. More feelings are felt.
November 2023:
Glenn proposes on the American Tobacco Trail in Durham. Allie says yes. The couple celebrates by going to the bar formerly known as Vecino and then a Petey (indie musician turned Tik Tok star turned more well-known indie musician) concert at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro.
