We met in high school but it wasn’t quite love at first sight. We were in overlapping friend groups and often found ourselves at the same events and hanging out with the same people. We were good friends but nothing more.

Lauren went away to Grand Valley and Daniel went to Detroit Mercy. Sometime during sophomore year we reconnected and started hanging out (but they weren’t dates!! They just looked like dates. But they definitely weren’t dates.) We found a way to do something nearly every time Lauren came home from GV.

Then by the end of 2019, it was clear to both of us that we made a great team. Daniel went to Grand Valley to visit for the first time, and we went to the President’s Ball. This photo was kind of our hard-launch.

We made our “medium distance” relationship from Warren to Allendale work for the rest of undergrad. It came with lots of stress (and Lauren’s tears), but it made the time we had together so special.

Eventually Lauren graduated and expeditiously moved home to be with Daniel and to go to law school at Wayne State. Daniel came to GV for graduation, trying to surprise Lauren but of course she pouted that he wasn’t coming and forced him to ruin his whole surprise.

Daniel graduated undergrad from Detroit Mercy shortly after, but Covid meant that he didn’t have a formal ceremony. We watched him graduate via live stream, and celebrated at his aunt and uncle’s house. Our shared ambition to do what we loved and to work toward making a life for ourselves was something that we bonded over and reminded each other of during the hardest times.

We had many adventures in the 5.5 years we have been together. Summer is our favorite and we spend as much time as possible at Tiger games or up north at the beach.

We took our first vacation together during Lauren’s spring break of 1L. It was much needed time together after a hectic year and we got to do all of our favorite things: read in the sun, eat, and spend time together.

We remember this Red Wings game especially fondly because it was the day we found out that Daniel was accepted to Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry. His hard work and determination paid off and we couldn’t be more excited that he was going to be a dentist (and was going to get to stay home to do it).

We also love dressing up for events (and hope you all will treat our wedding as a chance to get all fancy!) so we did it as many times as we could between Wayne’s Barrister’s Balls and Detroit Mercy’s Boat Cruises.

Lauren graduated law school only because of Daniel’s constant love, support, patience, and confidence that she could do anything she put her mind to.

We always say we take turns being stressed, as law school and dental school creates plenty of it for both of us. But we also get to take turns celebrating, which we did when Daniel got his white coat.

A day that everyone saw coming except for Lauren, and when Daniel finally got a good night’s rest after several weeks of keeping a major secret. Prompting Lauren to take a walk on the beach (which she thought nothing of because we do this regularly) and finding that specific set of sticks formed into an X - Daniel confessed his unwavering love, and Lauren doesn’t remember any of it because she blacked out. As exciting as this was, it only confirmed what we both already knew - we are stronger as a team and wouldn’t want to face this life without each other.

The adventures haven’t ceased since we got engaged. Lauren passed the bar exam and started her first full time “big girl” job (another adventure she couldn’t have survived without Daniel), we bought a house, picked a wedding venue and adopted our babies, Julian and Sullivan.