How We Met
Ben and I technically met at our college orientation. I don’t remember meeting him as I was in a relationship at the time but he remembers it vividly. Freshman year of college we both lived on campus and had many mutual friends. He would come over to my dorm and hang out in the hallway with a group of our friends. One of our mutual friends mentioned that Ben thought I was “cute” which made me extremely shy. Every time I would see him around campus I would avoid eye contact due to embarrassment. It became a game with him and his friends to see how hard I would try to avoid making eye contact.
Fast forward to sophomore year of college we lived in the same residence hall, but on opposite ends of the same hallway. We would run into each other here and there, and I remember asking my roommates at the time, “He’s cute right? It’s not just me?” I then started actually making eye contact and smiling at him as we walked by one another around campus.
In my junior year of college, I was determined to be single for the whole year. On the first day of classes, I passed Ben outside of one of the academic buildings on campus and when our eyes met it was like a slow-motion movie, very different from all our other encounters. I couldn’t get the moment out of my head and a couple of days later I ended up messaging him on Facebook with a “Hey!” He waited 15 minutes to respond and I thought it had messed it all up. Come to find out he was just trying to figure out how to respond. We talked for a little while before discovering that he lived in the room directly above mine.
Each year it felt like fate forced us to cross paths, bringing us closer and closer together. Our first in-person conversation lasted for 12 hours. We just talked through the entire night and into the morning. We’ve been together for 5 years now.
How They Asked
Ben proposed on the weekend of the anniversary of my grandfather’s passing. I was very close to my grandfather and thankfully Ben was able to get to know him well before he passed. My family and I decided to play a round of golf to honor the memory of both of my grandparents.
When we got to the 18th hole I wanted to take a group picture with everyone but Ben insisted that we take one together first. I turned to see my family with their cameras out and instantly realized what was happening.
Ben got down on one knee and asked me to marry him on my grandmother’s memorial golf hole, on the golf course they used to play together, where their ashes were spread. While playing golf we passed the 18th hole on the way to hole 15, and I captured a picture of rainbows right over the 18th hole. I know both my grandparents were there with us on that day.
