I won’t say I’m marrying Nicolas entirely because of a piece of computer paper, but this one definitely helped! The poster advertised a study abroad program in Washington, D.C., and even though D.C. is America bound (not abroad) I was hooked. So in September of junior year, I decided to go spend my next summer in D.C..

But between seeing that paper and actually making it to D.C., two very important things happened- Nicolas dove headfirst into his faith and the two of us became friends.

In February of 2023, Matthew added Nico to our spring break cruise groupchat. During the planning process, I noticed he changed the format of the doc often (now this tracks). As the two celiac people of the group, Nicolas and I had arranged seats next to one another at every meal on the cruise. I don’t know if you know this about cruises, but there are a LOT of meals. There, we found out we both would be in D.C. the coming summer for separate programs through Mizzou!! On stop day 2023, the day to mark the end of the year’s classes, Nicolas and I drove around Columbia out to Bigtree and talked for hours. I remember he talked a bit about us meeting up in D.C.

On June 3, 2023, Nico and I met up at an Alli coffeeshop in Washington, D.C., then he walked with me to a museum on the National mall later that day (It was 85% humidity, I’m amazed we made it out alive)! Throughout the summer, we saw Barbenheimer, had bottomless mimosas sponsored by Nancy Arneson, mutually obsessed over the Catholic bookstore in the National Bascilia, and had some of the best conversations walking to and from subway stops. We ended up spending all our time together (oops). One day, while sharing an umbrella in the rain, we both said we were catching feelings for the other. I requested that we waited until Columbia because D.C. was so far away from normal life and discerning would be tough (that part is my bad haha). I noticed that I always cared about his opinion, and really respected him!! When we weren’t together and something interesting would happen, I’d always want to tell him about it and hear his reaction.

On August 20, Nico came back to Columbia! He mentioned he wanted to play beach volleyball so I texted all my top volleyball contacts (ended up being way too many messages) and we had a fabulous game after student Mass. After, we took a long walk around the Columns and he asked me on a date! Nico had three places planned for the first date, but we only made it to 1 and 3 because we spent so much time talking at place number one, the Heidelberg. Two days after our first date, on Aug. 27, Nicolas asked me to be his girlfriend! I knew heading into a relationship senior year of college was a bit risky, but man I am so glad we did.

After that, time has FLOWN. Some highlights include; Nico’s Confirmation in October 2023, hosting tailgates together, looking at rings in January, sharing gluten free hot subs at Jersey Mike’s, getting a Sam’s club membership and sharing my Canva premium password with Nicolas. All of my international travel has been with this kid (the cruise and Uganda 2024), and seeing the world together has been unmatched. The both of us knew pretty quickly that we were interested in marrying the other, and we have both spiritually grown so much and continue to ask the Lord to help us grow more. On June 29, 2024, Nicolas asked me to marry him and hot dog it was the easiest yes!

I truly cannot believe how the Lord has transformed our hearts and lives and this engagement has flown as well. I cannot wait to celebrate with all of you this coming June. :)))

As far as how we met- neither of us can remember!! My first memory of Nicolas was before 54 country our freshman year at Lutz’ barbecue in Columbia (before it closed :(((). We debated whether nuclear power is a viable form of energy for like 20 minutes (I still maintain it could be cool)!

One of the first times Allie and I met was our freshman year when we went out to dinner with a group of mutual friends at a restaurant that does not exist anymore. While not a lot is remembered about that night, we definitely made an impression on each other. I remember a pretty girl who was off the market and she kept on pushing back against some of my beliefs. We hung out in the same group a few more times freshman year but quickly lost touch. This was until 2023 when I started coming around the Newman Center in the January of my junior year. After a long search for Truth in scripture I started to go to Eucharistic Adoration weekly, as I learned more and more I started to go for the Mass, then to a retreat, then one of the same friends from Freshman year invited me on a cruise. It had three people I knew and five people I did not know yet, including Allie Santini.

One of the first memories I have of Allie is both of us looking silly and buzzing with excitement as five of us drove from Columbia to St. Louis. She was wearing a huge beach hat in the car with star shaped sunglasses as I was wearing fake PitVipers. Though we did not know each other well by then, our collective excitement would start the beginning of a fuse for a friendship that would last the rest of our lives. The cruise was a lot of fun, we were forced to sit next to each other at all the meals as we both have Celiac. I remember seeing her come down for dinner every night in another stunning outfit or dress. This is when I remember the first sparks of attraction. Our friendship started out fun and surface level and stayed that way until Stop Day of our Junior Year. After a concert that a bunch of us attended, I was packing getting ready to go back to Tennessee the next day and somehow Allie and I got to texting. As our conversation grew, I could tell it needed to conclude in person but I was leaving early the next day, so I asked if she wanted to go on a drive around town. As we talked she grilled me about my ongoing conversion to the Catholic Faith, demanding my assurance that this was not just a stepping stone to another denomination and she reminded me that being confirmed was not going to solve my problems or automatically stop my sin. We drove to the Big Tree as we talked and this was one of the best times in my life I remember someone caring enough to say such honest truths. This was the first time I had a spark of feelings for her.

Fast forward to Summer of 2023, just a few weeks later. Both Allie and I were going to be in Washington, DC as we took on different internships. We immediately linked up and became close friends. Because we did not know too many people in the town, we did almost everything together. We would get off work and go to a Smithsonian, the to dinner then back to one of our apartments to watch a movie or play Minecraft. We got AMC Stubs together and made the 30 minute walk to and from the theater at least once a week. We watched Manchester City win the Champions League and the Treble in back to back weekends with hundreds of other supporters. We had many walks, Trader Joes runs, sweaty cool downs, and just a whole lot of fun together. It was the best time of my life when I was with her. At this point I liked her a lot. I never specifically asked her out but my feelings were known. They were seen by a friend of ours who kept on pushing if there was something going on between us, or every guest who would remark to the same friend that they believed we were dating or were cute together. The summer came and went and I found a friend who I was hoping would last a while.

As I returned back to Tennessee, I wrestled with the idea of dating, something that scared me as I did not have a lot of experience in the matter. I knew I liked her and I wanted to be with her, and continuously went to God in the three weeks we were apart. When I arrived back in Columbia, Allie was immediately there to help me unpack, her kind heart on full display. We went and played volleyball with friends from Newman, and after Allie and I went on a walk, mainly to catch up on the last three weeks, both of us with the same purpose in mind. We walked around the Mizzou campus and reflected on the summer we just had and what the future had in store for us. The hours long conversation finally resulted in the beautiful product of a first date. Scheduled 5 days out, we hung out almost every day in between. We could not get enough spending our time together. The first date was so much fun. I knew immediately that I wanted to be her boyfriend. Of course, we talked about doing three dates then deciding on whether or not we should become boyfriend/girflfrined. That lasted two days. By Sunday I told her I have no interest in just going on dates and I wanted to be officially official. She immediately accepted.

In the 10 months we dated we had many adventures. 4 hometowns, over 50 movies, Confirmation, Awakenings, Graduation, and too many weddings where we continuously dreamed what ours would one day become. My love for Allie grows everyday as she continues to challenge me to be the best version of myself and love me in a way no one else can. She gives me so much life and I cannot wait to build a new one with her!