Luke & Megan: The "I Love You"

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4

At the beginning of February, Grove City hosts the PACs swim championships meet, which takes place over three days.  I'd been going to the meet since sophomore year when Luke and I had started dating, and I felt like I was really missing out (and missing Luke!) by not going senior year.  But I wasn't really sure that I should go, or what people would think of me for being there if I did.

When a friend in my sorority asked me to come with her to go see her roommate swim, I couldn't pass up the opportunity and tagged along.  The stands in the pool were completely full, and we couldn't even buy tickets to get in, so we headed to the overflow room where they were projecting the meet on a screen.

loved doing college with these girls

The overflow room was not very big, and as part of God's amazing timing, Luke's parents and sisters happened to be sitting in the overflow room.  My friend and I went over to sit with them and chatted for little, watching what we could of the meet.  I felt a little bit (okay, a lot bit!) nervous, but it was good to see them again and talk to his sisters (one of whom was in my Spanish class that semester and I hadn't spoken to at all.)

After seeing Luke swim, his parents asked if we could go somewhere quiet and talk.  I'm pretty sure I responded with "sure, should I be scared?"  Which of course his parents assured me I did not need to be, and so we headed down to sit on a bench in an out of the way hallway by the recreational gym. Once we were seated, they basically told me they just wanted to talk to me to get a better understanding of why I had ended things with Luke.  From what Luke had told them, and from what they could see (um, obviously I wasn't avoiding him by coming to the swim meets), they knew I still had feelings for him.

Luke and me with Joe on Graduation day

[Random side note: as we were sitting on the bench, our friend Joe from our missions trip team walked by with some guys to go play basketball.  He definitely saw me sitting with Luke's parents and gave me a face asking what on earth was going on.]

In our conversation, I basically told them about my anxiety, and they encouraged me with Philippians 4:6- "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God".  They talked to me about how God is not a god of anxiety and would never use that as a way to make a decision.  His parents shared some more things with me, and then we prayed together.  It was an incredible blessing and encouragement to me, no matter how things were going to turn out.

When the swim meet ended that weekend, they invited me to go meet Luke with them in the GeDunk (our student union) for some food.  They had of course cleared this with Luke before asking me, so he was expecting to see me there.  I remember feeling REALLY nervous, but jittery with excitement about seeing him after months of no communication and only random sightings around campus.  It was so weird, but so amazing to be sitting with him, watching him and his family interact with each other once again.

me and Luke after a fun day at Cedar Point

I remember just sitting there, taking it all in, and not really saying anything during the conversation. But when I figured it was probably time for me to head back to my dorm, Luke jumped up to walk me back. And then we were alone together for the first time since the September.  We talked and laughed about nothing serious, and decided to meet up sometime later that week.

And really, from there, you could say the rest is history.  For at least a few weeks, we hung out around campus, did things with friends, and met up in the warmth of the hallways of the downstairs of the Alumni dorm to talk.  And one night, I finally told him I loved him for the first time.  It was both terrifying and exhilarating.  Once we started talking and seeing each other regularly, we knew that this was it. There was no going back- we were definitely headed for marriage.

my sorority's spring party

But there was also no pressure, certainly no rush after all I had put us through.  I did struggle with some anxiety still, but it wasn't nearly as controlling.  I tried to not let my complete focus be on our relationship, but to also enjoy my last semester with my girlfriends, study for finals, and look for a job.  Once we were official again, my roommates told me that if I broke Luke's heart again, they would break my legs.  And I knew they would.

The rest of senior year was really full- full of hope, fun, and excitement about the future.  Luke and I didn't talk too much about marriage, but it came up every now and then, and we knew our plan was to marry each other.  It felt so right to end the year with Luke, celebrating graduation with our friends and families, and heading back home to Maryland together.

We spent the first year out of college settling into new jobs, attending the same church and building friendships there, and dating each other in the real world.  Our engagement came about seven months after graduation, but that's another story for another time!