I would say Lukas and I definitely started out as good friends during our first year at the University of Illinois. Luckily, he was in the same fraternity as several of my high school friends, and as many Chicago suburbs kids know - during the first few weeks/months of college it's not uncommon to stick around the people you know. This led to us running into each other all the time. Add in exchanges, Saturday morning block, and pregames where Sigma Chi's and Alpha phi's were forced to mingle, it was almost impossible not to run into each other.

As I said, we were GOOD FRIENDS - and I thought that was that. Lukas was my good friend, who was checking in on what I was doing over Christmas breaks, calling on me when he needed a beer pong partner, always trying to talk to me at the bars, and finding ways to hang out with me and my friends in my dorm room in Bromley. Just a good friend!!

Somehow, he continued to persist and by the end of freshman year, I finally caught on to what he was doing. He took me on a date to the restaurant he was a server at over summer break (Rosebud, we got the brick chicken & eggplant salad - delish) and the rest is history. By the beginning of Sophomore year, we were "official" and haven't looked back since!

Slow and steady wins the race, I guess. Lexi and I first met our freshman year of college. I thought, and still do think she is a beautiful person. The bubbly personality, the bounce in her step, I couldn’t resist! I was lucky enough to have friends at school that were close to her. The early issue was, “How am I going to get that across to her?” Lexi and I believe manifestation is real and that is the approach I took with her. So, I started on my way manifesting a relationship with Lexi.

In the early times of getting to know her, I found myself finding any way I could to get in front of Lexi. I would text her, her friends, and my friends to find out what she was doing. If I were lucky I would make plans with her! I remember a time when I texted a friend asking what he was up to and he responded with something like “Hangin out with Lexi and a few others”. Without asking, I went over to his place. We got to hang for about an hour until the RA busted us and cut my time short with Lexi.

After many more interactions like the one above I started to take a more direct approach. I would text her and call her seeing how she was, I would hear about her time off from school, and how the boat on the river was doing. I invited her to a date event at school and she said no. However, with a little persistence and a good group of friends willing to put in a good word, Lexi finally let me take her on a date. I took her to Rosebud and we had a great night running around my hometown and going to the beach In the town over.

I felt a special way about Lexi then and I do now. It has been great being part of an ever evolving relationship moving from friends to soulmates and keeping some of our same tricks since the beginning. Now her friends are texting me, asking what we’re doing. We are lucky to have each other for the rest of our lives.