In the summer of 2013, we had both graduated high school and went to a summer camp in Greece with 200 other young Americans who are Greek Orthodox from June to the middle of July. I (Elenna) was coming from Chicago and Aleko was coming from Maryland, we did not know one another, but traveled hundreds of miles to the same place in Western Greece. We both went to get closer to our faith and just simply to have the summer of our lives.

When we arrived, I was placed in a cabin Olympia, the oldest girls cabin and Aleko was placed in a cabin Crete, one of the older boy cabins. Due to our cabins proximity in age, we would do many activities, excursions, and outings together. One of the activities where the entire camp was together, we met and were just goofing around and having fun. I thought he was cute and nice and I wanted to spend more time with him, but then I found out that he was younger than I was. Every time we were doing activities together, I still wanted to spend time with him because we just simply had a great and genuine time together. There was another time the whole camp was together and I was just hanging out and his cousin (now Koumbaro) came up to me playing wingman, who I was also friends with, and asked "so....you and Aleko huh?". I told him there is no way because he is younger than I am, but his cousin told me that we were in the same grade and he was the same age as me. So then I always had that in the back of my head (in a good way) and continued to hangout with Aleko when I saw him and we continued to have more amazing times together. Every chance from then on we always made our way to each other. It was the butterfly-type of feel every single time we were together. I didn't think it would be anything more than really good friends after camp because at the end of it, I would go home to Chicago and he would go home to Maryland. When we got to the last night, the entire camp got in a big circle, standing next to our cabins and we did our prayer, as we did every night, and the head priest gave a good-bye speech. Everyone was emotional because we all made amazing connections with everyone. Aleko was across the room from me, but as soon as we locked eyes, I cried because I knew I would miss him. Before heading up to go to bed, we made sure we got each other's numbers and said goodbye.

That next morning at about 3 am, we headed to Athens International Airport to head back home. Something had happened where their tickets weren't in the system and the head priest had to work his magic and get all those campers set and ready to go home, which he eventually sorted out. To my surprise, Aleko was part of that group and he was on the returning flight with me. Boy was I so happy and suddenly awake at 3am to see him walk through the security line. We saw each other and immediately switched seats with another camper so we can sit next to each other on the way to Switzerland where our connecting flight was. On the way to Switzerland, I was so tired, but we spent every minute awake, listening to music, and joking around together. I couldn't have dreamed of what happened next, but we locked eyes at one moment on the flight and he kissed me. My whole world turned off and in that moment, it was just Aleko and I and everything felt so right. At that moment, I knew he was the one. Then we landed in Switzerland where we had to get our tickets to New York and to our disappointment, that's where our journey home together ended. I thought that would be the last time I would see him until our reunion in February, making it another sad moment of saying our good-bye's to one another.

After I got home to Chicago, my parents gave me my phone and I was just waiting for him to text or call me. He eventually did the afternoon we landed and we talked non-stop from there on. We would video-chat all the time and about a month after Greece, he booked a trip to come see me in August. He came and that was the official spark to our relationship. Knowing it would be long distance, we were willing to work with it because we knew it was worth it. It wasn't easy, but all those moments made our relationship stronger and made each time we saw each other even more special. With that in mind, we started college in the Fall of 2013 and continued our relationship making it a priority every month to see each other. From August 2013 to April of 2018, we were a long distance relationship and in April of 2018, almost a year after Aleko graduated college and 4 months after I graduated from college, Aleko moved to Chicago and our long distance streak was finally over.

Aleko had planned a vacation with both our families during Labor day weekend in Charleston, South Carolina. Family is important to us, so them being there for this big moment was the cherry on top of it all. Aleko and I were going to dinner with the family, but we had some time to spare before. The hotel was on the beach, so Aleko decided to go for a walk while we were waiting for our ride. As we were walking, Aleko was pointing out different things for me to look at. Then he pointed out a beautiful display on the beach with a blanket, torches, flowers, and champagne. As oblivious as I can be, I was like "oh that's so cute for whoever that's for". Little did I know, he was walking me to that set up and a few seconds later, we were there. He got down on one knee and everything from then on seems like a fairytale blur. BUT, I did say YES!! His cousins came out of the bushes snapping photos, we did a toast, then we headed to the restaurant to celebrate with the rest of our family. This was the start of our lifetime together!