I met Mike within my first 5 minutes on campus of my freshman year at John Carroll University. I arrived to school late, having skipped freshman move-in day and orientation to go on a family vacation.

My roommate, Laura, had to move in and spend several days on her own before I moved in. When I finally arrived late Saturday night (and classes began on Monday!) I found Laura in our room with a small group of friends, mostly people she had known from her hometown of Erie. Mike was among them.

I arrived with a car full of boxes. My new friends got up off my dorm room floor and came with me to help empty out my car. Within 2 trips, all of my belongings were moved into my new room.

I remember asking Laura about Mike later that evening. He stood out to me because of his outgoing nature and sense of humor. (For those who don't know -his hair was a little erratic in 2009, and most of his wardrobe consisted of shades of grey, but I was willing to look past it.) She told me that he had a girlfriend - I was a little bummed, but we remained friends.

Mike and I ended up spending a lot of time together during our freshman year. As we were both science majors, we had some of the same classes and often spent time prepping for our general chemistry labs together every week.

We survived freshman year, but towards the end of the year, Mike told me that he was going to be transferring to Gannon University the following year. I was sad to lose a friend and study partner, but knew we would remain friends.

Over the next 7 years, we remained friends. During that time, we both graduated from college and our respective graduate programs.

Though we had times we fell out of touch (the joys of graduate school!) we really began to reconnect again in the summer of 2017. I was in the process of accepting my current position in Red Bank, NJ, and Mike had just moved to Geneva, NY.

Mike had announced on Facebook about his new position and home. After reaching out to congratulate him, he told me that he was now living in a place with LOTS of wine (my favorite, for those who don't know!) and he invited me to visit.

In August 2017, I took a weekend to drive out to NJ to look at apartments. On a whim, I decided to go visit Mike after I was done in NJ (an extra 3+ hours "along the way"). We had a great weekend together reconnecting and we even went on our first date to Watkins Glen.

Two weeks and another trip to Geneva later, we officially began dating. A little over one year later, Mike proposed on Sunset Beach along Lake Erie on the day after Thanksgiving. It has been a wonderful ride and we cannot wait to begin this new chapter of our lives!

I had just started at JCU and finished up freshman orientation like most people do (I would soon find out Katya was not like most people), I was hanging out with a group of friends I had made, one of whom turned out to be Katya's roommate Laura.

On Saturday evening we were all hanging in Laura's room when Katya arrived to JCU (she still tends to run late for events). We all rushed down to her car to help her unload everything.

Instantly she and I became friends as we were both biology majors and had a similar sense of humor (I am pretty sure she and I have exchanged every chemistry cat meme ever made).

During our freshman year Katya quickly became one of my best friends at JCU, and thanks to the amount of time we had to study for our majors, we spent a lot of time together (mostly her correcting my chemistry pre-labs).

After my freshman year I had decided to transfer to Gannon University. It was a tough decision but I knew Katya and I would continue on being friends. Over the next few years Katya and I kept in touch via text, tagging each other on chemistry cat memes, and the occasional visit to JCU.

After finishing up undergrad we began to text less and less (as we were both diligently studying), until 2017 when I had just moved to Geneva, NY to begin my first job as a DPT. Katya texted me asking me where in NY I was living because she was going to be in NJ looking at apartments for the job she had just landed as an OD. I told her I was in upstate, which would be a bit of a drive for her to come visit, but she was unfazed and made the drive up.

We had a great weekend catching up, exploring Watkins Glen State Park, and enjoying some Finger Lakes wine. I found myself more sad than usual when it was time for her to leave. When she texted me that she made it home safely, I responded by telling her to come visit again soon, to which she told me she would be back in two weeks.

During her second trip to Geneva we officially began dating. Over the next year we made a long distance relationship work. It didn't take me long to know that Katya was the woman I wanted to marry. After a little over a year after dating I proposed to her on Sunset Beach along Lake Erie and thankfully she said YES!

It was a wild journey that brought us together and we cannot wait to keep the journey going, building the rest of our lives together!