We first met at the Freshman dance at Franciscan University before classes had even started. We hit it off immediately and started dating less than a month later. We had our first date at the Bennigans across the street because neither of us had a car, and all other restaurants were out of walking distance. Her roommate helped her get ready, did her hair, and texted him to compliment her on her hair while they were on their date. One week of dating rolled into two, and suddenly, we had been dating for a month and were taking a bus with his brother to his house on Long Island for fall break.

We finished off the semester and rolled into the next. We were not ready to say goodbye to each other for spring break and were not even close to being prepared for the pandemic that hit while we were away. Four months later, we finally saw each other again and got to go back to school shortly after. That semester was a weird one. We were not allowed in each other’s dorms because of the plague, so we had to hang out in various academic buildings and take lots of walks.

Suddenly, it was our junior year in college, and we finally were living in dorm buildings right next to each other. That first semester was our first normal one in a long time. However, a lot changed junior spring when half of our friend group took a semester in Austria to study abroad. It didn’t work out for us to go, which was hard, but it was nice having a semester where it was mostly just the two of us hanging out. He developed a friend group of his own, and she got closer to her household sisters.

Senior year was a blur. It was a hectic time for us between thesis, getting ready to graduate, and looking for jobs. However, we did manage to make some good memories throughout it all. Our friends were back from Austria, and it was so very good to see them again. Thankfully, we graduated with ease and got out of Ohio. Even though we’re glad to be done with that chapter of our lives, we miss our college friends very much and look forward to seeing them again at the wedding.

While not in college, we still found time to visit each other over the summer. She came to see him at the beginning of September to celebrate their four-year anniversary (which is a long time). To celebrate, we went to have a picnic and a little gift exchange in a park. She gave him his things first, and then he pulled out a scrapbook. Each page had a photo from each month they had been dating. We went through the whole thing, and it was so beautiful to see such a thoughtful recap of our relationship so far. He then pulled out a little jar that she had forgotten that she had given him when they had first started dating. It was a jar filled with slips of paper containing little memories that they had made so far. He wanted to continue to go down memory lane with her and asked her to read the first one. She opened the jar, unfolded the first slip of paper, and read the words, “will you marry me?”

A few months later, we are still living eight hours apart but are visiting each other as often as possible. We are very excited to say “I do,” get an apartment, and spend the rest of our lives together.