Fall 2020 I first saw Luke when he worked at Common Grounds. I didn’t know his name, but I thought he was cute. He was “the cute barista.” I never even dreamed of introducing myself; but thankfully, I didn’t have to. A mutual friend of ours introduced us. Oh my goodness, cute barista guy! I had seen him come climbing before at the rock wall, but still had never introduced myself. I didn’t really have a crush on him, I just thought he was nice. Over Christmas break that year, he came in more and more. We didn’t talk much, except for when he needed a “bad climber” to test his route (what a confidence booster!).

Spring 2021 The next semester he started working at the Sports Center, and we had every single shift together. I wasn’t really looking for a relationship. I had been single for a bit, and actually quite enjoyed it! Once I started having feelings, I tried to ignore them. In fact, I didn’t really even tell anyone I had a crush on him. Jess, our coworker and my roommate, eventually caught on. She started making excuses for us to work in the same area, and even got him to walk us home one night after work. “You should text us to let us know you got home alright,” she told him. “I’ll make sure to text one of you,” he said, turning to leave. That night, Luke “slid into my DMs.” We messaged for a bit over the following weeks (and by a bit, I mean like every single day). That is when I seriously started praying. I wanted to be absolutely sure about him before jumping into a relationship. We had both been in some rocky relationships in the past, and neither of us wanted to get hurt again. Because of this, we ended up having a lot of serious conversations fairly early on. We got to know each other beyond just our favorite colors, and really got to develop what we wanted out of a relationship. Every conversation only made it clearer to both of us that we were falling in love. On May 1st, after a surprise date didn’t go as planned, Luke asked me to be his girlfriend in his kitchen. After I said yes, he sprinted to his room to get the necklace he had bought me. We were finally official!

Summer 2021 The following month, our relationship moved to FaceTime. I moved back home for the summer, which meant a fourteen hour time change with both of us working full-time. We talked when we could, falling asleep during most of our calls. But we survived, counting down each day until we could see each other again.

Fall/Winter 2021 We grew closer over the fall semester so I invited him to spend Christmas with my family in Cincinnati. We drove up together and spent the week at my grandparent’s. I had a feeling he was going to propose, but I didn’t know when. My mom had something planned for every night we were there. Before going to Winterfest at Kings Island, Hannah told me I might want to look nice because “you never know.” The only problem, is that it’s a little hard to look nice while riding roller coasters in freezing weather. We enjoyed the evening together with my family, and I kept glancing at his pockets for any sign of a ring box. Nothing. “Hey, I need to stop and tie my shoe,” Luke said. He pointed to a few picnic tables in the dark behind a Skyline Chili. I’m pretty sure a trash can was overflowing. While I wanted him to propose, this was not it. I forced a smile as he dropped to one knee. He tied his shoes. Looked up at me, then stood back up. He put his hand on my back and said he was good now. A few feet away some white Christmas lights draped across a vintage looking fence. “Hey, guys! Let me take your picture in front of this wreath!” my dad shouted, pointing toward the lights. “Why?” I asked. “It’s pretty! Come on, it’ll be cute!” Luke took my hand and pulled me over in front of the wreath. He wrapped his arm around me and smiled for the picture. After the flash, he didn’t let go. He turned to look at me, a big smile across his face. “I love you,” he said. “I love you too!” He paused, then took both of my hands in his. Slowly, he got on one knee. He let go of my hands and reached into his pocket to pull out the ring. We both cried as he told me how much he loved me and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. I wrestled my gloves off as he asked the question. “Will you marry me?” I obviously said yes!