This piece is part of a blog series called Writing For Publication, wherein two bantam Canadian bloggers, sick of writing into a vacuum, attempt to change their lives by navigating the high-stakes world of writing, publishing and syndication. Follow along, as Harrison Mooney and Kevan Gilbert try to raise their profile, build their portfolio and maybe even earn money, by submitting articles to publications with credibility, readership, and a platform.

About the Article: When I was contacted by the editor of my old student newspaper about contributing an article for their "Secret Lives of Former Freshman" issue, I couldn't tell whether to sigh or high-five someone. The "Writing for Publication" series is supposed to be about progress -- getting published in new, larger publications with audiences, not in publications that you used to work for. Nonetheless, Mars' Hill, as the student publication of Trinity Western University, reaches an audience of about 3000 readers, which is a step up from this tiny blog o' mine...and besides, since it's a cute story, I'm republishing it here in the spirit of Writing for Publication.

How I Married My Freshman Sweetheart

When Kendra and I met each other in Orientation Week in our freshman year, it was as if the very hand of God reached down from the heavens and slapped a "This Is Your Spouse" sign on our foreheads. In fact, if I remember correctly, a chorus of swallows was chirping "I'm a Believer," and I saw a thousand gleaming angels cheering excitedly from atop the roof of Douglas Hall.

Asking Kendra, though, who has always had a sharper mind for the facts, it was more like a series of brief conversations where we barely remembered each other, followed by a couple talks where we remembered each other a little better, and then another where I asked for her phone number. Eventually, after a sequence of late evenings involving rolling abandoned tires down hills, climbing onto campus roofs and holding picnics on the train bridge, there was a lurching and awkward conversation around 3:00 am in the Lower Caf which included me somehow saying the words: "I like ya, kid."

That was when we started dating: in October of our first year, only one month into our four-year TWU experience. Like many couples before us such as Milo and Otis, Bonnie and Clyde, or Harold and Kumar, we began our adventure with no sense of what we were getting into, unsure of where we were going, and especially not what we'd do during the summers apart. (The answer was: write email. Megabytes upon megabytes of it.)

Starting in freshman year and successfully fumbling through second, third and fourth years, we both grew a lot: Kendra in maturity, and myself in body mass (I've gained over 50 pounds since first year, and I'm now at the record-smashing weight of nearly 160 lbs). To grow up, we had to remain independent, but to get to know each other, we had to keep together. It was like being the European Union, pre-1993.

It wasn't until two months after our Lower Caf DTR that we had our first official date, which involved walking into Fort Langley and eating Elvis Burgers at Planet Java's 50's Caf