In the third annual special Valentine’s Day Couples Speak, Editor in Chief Abraham Teuber ’22 asked six Grinnell couples the story of how their relationships began. The following quotes were written by the couples and shared with The S&B.
Professor Caleb Elfenbein and Associate Director of Admission Tina Elfenbein
“We’re having a bit of a disagreement about which is the better story of our beginning.”
Tina: “We met in a class called “The Bible and Politics” at Harvard Divinity School in the spring of 2001. To the best of my knowledge, the class was about neither, really. It was a 2-hour class, so there was always a ten-minute break, and Caleb and I were the only smokers, so we always chatted while we smoked on the steps.”
Caleb: “But we started dating because we were supposed to go out for a drink together, with a mutual friend. But she somehow decided, at the very last possible minute, that what she really needed to do instead was varnish a bookshelf, leaving us alone together and very much on a date.”
“Both are true! And we’ve been together ever since, through grad school, law school, four states, one kid, two dogs.”
“P.S. We quit smoking!”
Audrey Boyle ’21 and Annalise Rummelhart ‘23
“Shortly after Audrey maimed herself wiping out in 4-inch platform boots on the streets of High in a mad dash to host Titular Head ’21 on time, Annalise wowed with her enviable coordination and dexterity by winning the first annual Tithead Limbo contest. The rest? Is history.”
Annie Estes ’22 and Az Fuller ‘22
“We met first year through mutual friends and hung out in the same friend group all first semester. We didn’t know each other very well despite being around each other socially. Fast forward to second semester, after feeling the gloominess of Grinnell in January, Annie mentioned the idea of playing racquetball as a fun activity to all our friends at a basketball game. They all said no except for Az, who, looking to be more social, agreed. We played racquetball every Friday second semester and became close friends and gossip buddies. Despite telling all our friends that we wouldn’t date, in the first month of second year we both realized we liked each other. We made it official that December on a walk back from Chuong’s when Annie asked, “Are we dating?” and Az replied, ‘Yeah.’”
Professor Eiren Shea and Professor Elias Saba
“We met the classic academic way, in graduate school! It was 2012 in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania. Elias was in the Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Department and Eiren was in the East Asian Languages and Civilizations Department—NELC and EALC. Our departments shared an administrative office so we would run into each other at the mailroom and the water cooler. Elias studies the medieval Middle East and Eiren studies medieval China and Central Asia. Even though we are in different parts of the world and different disciplines, we still have plenty to talk about. We traveled to some pretty cool places together early in our relationship which really set the tone. We’re looking forward to more travel once the pandemic subsides a bit and our toddler and baby can get vaccinated!”
Amelia Denek ’24 and Ann Oli ‘24
“We met at a Halloween party which neither of us would have remembered if Amelia didn’t drunk text Ann later that night because she was very pretty, and we both promised to hang out sometime. We did not hang out. Ann swiped up on Amelia’s story, texted VERY normally and Amelia’s delusion made her believe Ann was flirting. But thanks to the delusion, Ann got invited to Amelia’s Thanksgiving bash where Ann saw Amelia’s new homosexual haircut and thought she looked so cute. After that we both fucked up our finals from spending too much time having sex and went on a multi-city month-long great American vacation to make up for it. As soon as we got back to Iowa we had a fight, Amelia discovered emotions and asked Ann out because she was too shy to do it herself, and we thought dating would be fun 🙂 Trying to write this paragraph actually made us have another fight.”
Mohammad Igbaria ’24 and Gabby Hernandez ‘24
“We first met during Spring 1 last year when we both lived in Norris. It was actually during a Nerf war when Mo had to protect Gabby during a Protect the President type game. We didn’t actually get together until the start of this year though when we reconnected at a party on one of the first nights on campus. We clicked super well and the more we got to know each other, the closer we got.”
Annie Estes ’22 and Az Fuller ‘22
“We met first year through mutual friends and hung out in the same friend group all first semester. We didn’t know each other very well despite being around each other socially. Fast forward to second semester, after feeling the gloominess of Grinnell in January, Annie mentioned the idea of playing racquetball as a fun activity to all our friends at a basketball game. They all said no except for Az, who, looking to be more social, agreed. We played racquetball every Friday second semester and became close friends and gossip buddies. Despite telling all our friends that we wouldn’t date, in the first month of second year we both realized we liked each other. We made it official that December on a walk back from Chuong’s when Annie asked, “Are we dating?” and Az replied, ‘Yeah.’
