The story of Illie and Robin

Many of you already know us, some very well and others only slightly so. Parts of our relationship are known to many of you, but very few (if any of you) know the complete story, and we would love to share it here.

The very first time we met was at Williams College, sometime in the fall of 1998. We were in the Lasell gym, and Robin was a tired and sweaty from an intense, competitive badminton match. Illie had just finished enjoying a light, easy-going badminton rally with her friends. So picture a heavily breathing, tired Robin and a probably bored Illie meeting each other. There weren't many turn-ons at that point. It was really not how we got together, but it was how we first met. Fortunately that's not the end of the story.

That January (1999), we had both signed up on a language study tour to Taiwan. Robin was excited to brush up on his domestically-spoken toddler-level Taiwanese, while Illie wanted to get out of that frozen tundra wasteland called Williamstown. We finally had our first substantial conversation. We shared about our backgrounds, language interests, and our family histories, and there were many commonalities that struck a chord with both of us.

After coming back to Williams, we continued our friendship in our own nerdy fashion -- emailing. By mid-February, Robin was so enamored that he felt ready to ask Illie out -- in his own nerdy fashion -- by emailing. Unfortunately, Illie was not yet ready for a relationship, and Robin would have to wait. (cue the melancholy music) Actually, Robin didn't take the rejection too well. (cue the even sadder music) He thought that Illie would never be interested, but he valued the friendship enough that he still wanted to get to know Illie better.

Fast forward ten months. Skip through all the ~2500 (cumulative) emails written and the insanely (for college, at least) early morning breakfasts.

Robin was pretty oblivious yet had hopelessly fallen for Illie. Some people knew though, that there was chemistry. Internally, he was torturing himself, trying to convince himself that Illie wasn't interested in order to maintain the friendship, but he was urged to take action. He eventually gathered enough courage on December 2nd, 1999, and wrote a simple letter to her expressing his emotions and thoughts. Illie was ready now, yet hesitant, and a seemingly eternal ten hours later after receiving that letter, she said yes. Thus began their journey together as a couple.

It's been over four years since, and we have only become closer. Despite frequent long-distance stints, our relationship and commitment has grown to the level where we are ready to spend the rest of our lives together. This coming June 10th, we look forward to sharing our special day with the friends and family we love.