HIS VERSION

The first time I ever saw Em was in 2019 at Collegiate Week. She showed up later than the rest of the group so the first time we met was through Dennis. She was making her rounds visiting all her friends she hadn't been with all summer and that was when I got to see her for the first time. That week turned out to be nothing more than a meeting.

As my freshmen year is starting, Steve and the BCM began to assign Freshmen Family Groups. She was one of the leaders so I was crossing my fingers I was in her group. Unfortunately, luck wasn't on my side, and I was put in a different group. However, after only a few weeks into the school year, our group failed to meet once and it was disbanded. I was a free agent needing to be placed in a group! Low and behold, I was placed in Em's group!!! There, I was finally able to be around Em at least on a weekly basis. I got to interact with her in a group setting, and then anytime there was an outside event that we wanted to do together as a group, I was there! Running to grab Cane's... I was there! Going to Yougurtland... I was there! Going to a gymnastics meet... I was there!

If there was one place I knew I really liked being around Em, it was when we went to LSU baseball games. Em loves sitting in Alex Box and watching the Tigers, but as for me, I would rather watch grass grow or paint dry before sitting through nine innings of baseball. However, when I was watching with her, I was perfectly content to sit there for hours on end, talking and getting to know her. At this point we were nothing more than friends, but when we were going to games, it was still early in the season so the games were really cold. She'd complain about her hands being cold, so the smoothness in me swooped in and I kindly offered to hold her hands so I could keep them "warm". I knew I enjoyed being with her all the time and I was always looking forward to random BCM nights and LSU events that we would get to go to.

In March of 2020, the world shut down. Em and I knew that I was going home, but we both knew that we liked each other. After some conversation we decided that we would stay in contact over quarantine and see if we still liked each other whenever we got back. Our plan was to text, Marco Polo, and FaceTime almost everyday. From a recommendation from one of Micah's dating sermons, we asked Cydnie to be a third person in our friend group and just watch us interact. On almost a nightly basis all three of us FaceTimed and played Phase 10 on our phones. Those were such fun times and there, all three of us grew closer together. After every night, all three of us would "hang up" but once Cyd left, we would then just talk to each other for even longer. This continued all of quarantine and was something I looked forward to every night.

Fast forward to when school starts again in August of 2020, and Em is waiting for me to man up and make things "official." I was too nervous to put a label on it and she knew it. However, on September 1, 2020, Em asked me something along the lines of, "what are we?" I beat around the bush but she ended up beating it out of me. That night I asked her if she'd like to me my girlfriend and we've never looked back since.

HER VERSION

August 4, 2019, I showed up to Collegiate Week with the BCM@LSU. I was introduced to one of the new resident hosts and soon-to-be freshmen... and that was it.

Later in the semester, that same resident host showed up to the family group that I was leading and said he was joining. He kept coming back every week! Eventually, we were hanging out in the same groups outside of family group and before long it was just the two of us hanging out more often than not. I went to quite a few intramural soccer games (even though I hated soccer) and he sat through many LSU baseball games (even though he found baseball boring).

March of 2020, days before this resident host went back to Georgia for the "covid break," I knew I had feelings for him and I knew he had them for me too. I just wanted him to say it first. Finally, we admitted to one another that the feelings were mutual. After that, he went home.

After six months of FaceTime "dates" (every night), he came back to Baton Rouge for the start of his sophomore year and my senior year. Then, September 1, 2020, this resident host became my boyfriend. A little over two and a half years after that, this resident host took me back the the BCM and got down on one knee. Now I get to spend the rest of my life with the new resident host and incoming freshmen that I was introduced to back on August 4, 2019, Luis Lopez, the love of my life.

Wedding Day

Reception