Love Stories Countdown to Valentine’s Day #5:
I dig you, Pompeii

This is the love story of two of my very dear friends, but their names have been changed to protect their privacy.

Hannah and Luke met one another on an archaeology program in Rome. The way Luke tells it there was instant spark the moment he met Hannah. He even imagined quite early on what it would be like to be in a relationship with her – even having kids with her (their daughter is about to turn 1 very soon!).

For part of the program they were in Pompeii. On their last night there Hannah and Luke had a heart-to-heart and decided that it wouldn’t be practical to start a relationship long distance. Hannah also had freaked out because Luke is younger than her, and she didn’t want to date someone who (she thought) wouldn’t take the relationship seriously.

Picture the scene: Hannah sitting on her bed, lamenting to her roommate how not dating Luke was probably for the best (but obviously she was very disappointed). Meanwhile Luke was on the phone with his parents lamenting how he met this wonderful woman but they decided not to date because of the long distance.

His parents, being direct as only the Dutch can be: “If you really like her then you’d be stupid not to give it a shot.”

Well, that was the only encouragement Luke needed. He raced over to Hannah’s dorm room.

Hannah says her heart leaped at the knock on her door, hoping it was Luke. And it was. He said they should just go for it.
After that, they dated long distance for a year. They moved to Oxford when she started her masters’ program. They were engaged by March 2013, married in August, then moved to Greece for a year for another archaeological program. They’ve bounced around as academics must.

What is their love like? I think one of our mutual friends once said it best “I just want to find the man who loves me as much as Luke loves Hannah.” I couldn’t agree more.

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