She was a small-town, country girl from Decorah, Iowa. He was a Catholic city boy from Chicago. They didn't know it, but their stars were meant to cross at Loras College, in Dubuque, Iowa. *** Early morning, on the first day of Loras's orientation weekend, McKenzie and Andres hopped a charter bus with the rest of their freshman class, ready to volunteer at Camp Little Cloud for Girl Scouts. The group was to break ground on a new hiking trail in the forest. At the site, a grounds-keeper spoke to the class to offer directions about where the trail was to be built, to explain expectations for tool-usage, and to announce the day's itinerary. When he finished, the autumn sun blazed down on their necks. The grounds-keeper pointed to the bed of his truck and instructed everyone to take a gardening tool. She picked a shovel - he grabbed a rake. Just as McKenzie was about to strike her first dig, she glanced up to see Andres. He walked toward her wearing Aviator sunglasses and a dark curly afro. Sunlight beamed through the forest canopy and lit the space behind him in gold stardust. When they caught eyes, he smiled. Though they had never met before, McKenzie felt like she had always known him. Andres approached McKenzie, asking where she was from and what she liked to do for fun. She worked while they spoke, striking a line for the trail to follow, just as the grounds-keeper had instructed. Andres hadn't paid attention, because he was raking leaves and debris over her path. Mid-conversation, McKenzie stopped him and asked, "Do you know what we're supposed to be doing here?" He looked at her, momentarily confused. "Umm, what do you mean?" He replied. She rolled her eyes and leaned on her shovel, one hand on her hip. "We're supposed to be making a trail, but you're raking dirt where I'm marking the path." He turned red and smiled at her. "At this rate, we'll be here all day." She smiled too, and they both laughed.
After Camp Little Cloud, Andres asked McKenzie for her cellphone number so they could text and talk throughout their days. He liked to call her "mi cielo," Spanish for "my sky," and he never let her fall asleep without texting her goodnight. Several weeks went by and the more they got to know each other, the stronger their friendship grew. Every morning for breakfast, they ate chocolate-chip pancakes and scrambled eggs in the Loras cafeteria, they studied together in the library, snacked on popcorn and Cup o' Noodles, laughed at comedies during their break-times, and talked about everything that crossed their minds. Eventually, McKenzie invited Andres to join her and her aunt and uncle, Twyla and Wade, for dinner at their house in Dubuque. He happily accepted. When the weekend came and they were all together, Twyla asked Andres what attracted him to McKenzie. "What makes you like her so much?" Without hesitation, he smiled and answered, "Her unique beauty." *** On October 4th, McKenzie told Andres she was ready to take their friendship to the next level. The couple started dating and were well-known for always holding hands while walking across the Loras campus.
Fast forward seven years, three dogs, and two home-states later... McKenzie and Andres were living in Evanston, Illinois. She worked full-time in downtown Chicago, and studied for her master's degree at Northwestern University on the weekends. He dedicated his life to helping those in mental healthcare and became an artist and painter in his free time. In early August, the couple wanted to plan something special and low-key to celebrate Andres turning 25. To get a head-start on his birthday weekend, they called off work, packed up their dogs (Roxxy, Kqba, and Bambi), picked up Andres's brother, Pedro, and ditched the city. Their destination: Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The three of them spent the day at the boy's family summer-house, grilling burgers and hotdogs, day-drinking, and jamming to Pedro's guitar solos, while Andres painted. Towards sunset, they decided to walk down to the lake. Along the way, the boys reminisced on their childhood days at Lake Geneva. When Andres got a phone call from his father, Julio, he walked to the end of the pier, sat, and dangled his legs in the water. Julio had a message for Andres from his abuela (grandmother), Angelina, in Honduras. She wanted him to know that she loved him very much. She wished him a happy birthday and demanded that Andres ask McKenzie to marry him "right now, today." Meanwhile, McKenzie had sat next to Andres, gazing across the shimmery lake. She turned to look at him and he swears the sun lit up her eyes. Andres was speechless. He'd already been thinking a lot about marrying McKenzie, especially recently. He took the message as a sign, thanked his father for the call, and hung up the phone with tears in his eyes. The setting sun lit brighter, and Andres asked McKenzie to marry him right there on the pier. The rest is their story...