We met in the winter of our freshman year of high school (2011). Luke was a freshman at Totino Grace and I (Sophie) was a freshman at St. Anthony Village. My best friend from childhood had also just started at Totino Grace, met Luke, and introduced us. Luke and I dated for the first time between freshman and sophomore year.
We later reconnected while we were both freshman in college. Luke was at Xavier University in Ohio and I was at the College of Saint Benedict in Minnesota. Although still a mystery, we believe we reconnected by occasionally replying to each other's posts of each other enjoying college.
Sophomore year of college, Luke transferred to Butler University in Indiana to run track & field. Using my mom's Delta benefits, I flew down to visit Luke for the first time on Oct 2nd, 2016. We continued to visit each other during holidays and long weekends.
At the end of our sophomore year of college, we officially started dating. Luke returned to Minnesota during the summer where we would enjoy lake days, going to the Basilica Block Party concert, and hanging out with friends. We continued to do distance throughout our junior and senior year of college (Butler/ St. Ben's).
After graduating, we were lucky enough to travel to Greece with the Luke's family. After returning from Greece, Luke decided to apply for a graduate program at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and to run track and field in the Big 10. We were back to doing long distance.
While Luke was living in Nebraska, I started my first teaching job in Burnsville, Minnesota. This made it challenging to see Luke but I still managed to find time to visit. The most special weekend (10/13/2019) of all was visiting Luke when he picked up a 12 week old rottweiler puppy who he named Luna.
Fast forward to now, we've known each other for almost 12 years, have been dating for 6 years, and have been engaged for 12 months. We've traveled to two countries and eleven states together. And have many many more adventures ahead of us!