Luke and I first met at a mutual friend's Halloween party during our junior year of college at the University of Mary. We talked for a little and parted ways without any way of getting in contact, but we both knew there was something special here. A few months later, at a mutual friend's birthday party, Luke and I met again. After talking the whole night, Luke asked me for my number. While I had thought I had given him my number, in my excitement, I had accidentally given Luke my mom's number. As bad as that sounds, I really did want to talk to Luke again, and after a chance meeting in the cafeteria at the University of Mary, we cleared up what happened. I gave Luke my number for real, and we started hanging out as friends in group settings. After a month of this, Luke asked me out on a date for Friday, March 11th. We went to Johnny Carinos and the Mandan bowling alley and had a ton of fun goofing off and connecting. We went on a couple more before Luke officially asked me to be his girlfriend. I was so excited I think I called everyone I knew. The only downside was the end of junior year was quickly approaching, which meant Luke had to move back home to MN until next year. Luke and I spent the summer calling, FaceTiming, and occasionally making the six hour drive to visit each other. Truly, the long distance was a blessing in disguise as it allowed us to slow down and get to know each other deeper thanks to our sometimes several hour long phone calls that still never seemed quite long enough. At the end of the summer, Luke surprised me by driving down a day early to move back from MN. On his first full day back, we celebrated by having a picnic at McDowell Dam. Over the next several months, we discovered the fun of dating in the same city, but also finally had the chance to see what it was like to spend an extended amount of time together. Thankfully, as time went on, we only grew closer, and it became more and more clear that marriage was what God had intended for us. In early August of 2023, Luke planned what he called a "karaoke and picnic" date at McDowell Dam, the same place we had a date after Luke came back from MN. Luke packed a picnic which we ate down on one of the docks. It was drizzling slightly, but that only made the day more special. After we finished eating, Luke began singing "Last Rose of Summer" by Judas Priest, a song meaningful to both of us for many different reasons. At the line, "I give you this last rose of summer," Luke pulled a rose out of the cooler he had packed which sufficiently distracted me while he grabbed the ring out of the cooler, got down on one knee, and asked the question. It goes without saying that I said yes, and we are both very excited to take this step together, following in God's plan for us and continuing to grow together as a married couple.