Carlson Crew: 10 Years

These past 10 years have gone by so incredibly fast. I can't believe that Luke and I have been together for a decade. I have spent a lot of time thinking about how far we've both come and the different paths that have lead us to where we are now. When we first met the last thing either of us wanted was to get into a serious relationship the Saturday before school even started. Needless to say, that's exactly what happened. It was a very bad time in my young teenage life. My parents were starting a very difficult divorce (my dad had just moved out) and I was in the midst of ending my relationship with my boyfriend of 5 years and was heartbroken about it. I didn't really know what I wanted out college, or even out of life at that point. Little did we know, the world would change forever on 9/11 and give everyone in America a new perspective. Luke turned my world upside down in every positive way possible.
Here is our story!

Luke and I first met on August 25, 2001 during 80's Casino Night at Chapman University. My friend Meggie and I only went for 30 minutes because we were really nervous and too cool for school. Within 5 minutes we met Dan (Luke's roommate)and about 10 minutes after that Luke approached us. The first thing Luke ever said to me was, "Wow, you must really like Hurley". I happened to be wearing a Hurley tank and pants but I definitely was not in love with the brand. He proceeded to tell me some lie about how he thought he had seen me on the beach that day in Huntington. I believed him at first because I had been at the beach, but in Newport. He invited us to have coffee at the Ugly Mugg that night and the rest is pretty much history. School started Monday and Luke just happened to be in one of my broadcast journalism classes even though he was an advertising major at the time. I was totally impressed with his confidence and loved hearing his stories about traveling and exploring (I had barely ever been outside of OC). I knew I was in love when I openly told him that I still had strong feelings for my highschool boyfriend and he laughed and said, "Don't worry, not for long." He was the first person I had ever met that asked so many questions about me and wanted to know absolutely everything. Within a week, he was definitely the cool the man on campus because the Mandy Moore music video he was in had climbed to #1 on TRL and played every day at 3pm for like 2 months straight. We went on our first "official" date September 1st and had our first kiss that night on Sunset Blvd. so we consider that our anniversary :)

Luke, I can honestly say that you have made my life better than I ever thought it could be. Since the moment we met, you've been my best friend. I know that without a strong relationship, you have nothing, and I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am for the bond that we have. Our lives have definitely not been perfect, but I wouldn't change a thing. Thank you for being passionate about everything that you do and for making me a better person :-) Here's a look at the last 10 years!

First photo we ever took Sept. 2001- Disneyland