By Bradley Rodstrom

It was the fall of 1999 when Amanda and I both started classes at OU. At that point in our lives, we had no idea each other even existed. She had grown up in Columbus her whole life, and I was born and raised in a small town northeast of Cleveland called Painesville. Our worlds couldn’t have been more different.

The paths our lives would take would eventually bring us together.

The Joos family was always an OU family. Her father had graduated from OU in 1972, and her parents were married in Galbreath Chapel in 1980.

Amanda knew her whole life that eventually she would end up at OU. I debated between a few universities in Ohio. My life was forever changed, though, upon a visit to OU in the fall of 1998. I knew as soon as I stepped out of the car that fall day that OU was the place for me

Pickering Hall was where I first laid eyes her. She was introduced to me through a mutual friend. There was something about Amanda that drew me to her.

When we first met, I was involved with another girl and wasn’t even thinking about her in that way. She was always special, though. Her kindness and genuine personality made me want to know her more.

Her side is much more of a love-struck story. She always said that when she first saw me, lights went off and she knew that there was something special about me. She pined after me for the next few years while taking her own path at OU and developing other relationships and friendships.

In the next year, we would meet on and off again at Nelson Dining Hall for lunch. It would just sort of happen that she was there eating alone when I would be there eating alone. We developed a friendship. She would tell me later on that she used to love when she would see me there and confided in me how much those lunches really meant to her.

Our junior year was when things started to happen. I was on my own again. Amanda and I had both developed some mutual friendships. That brought our worlds even closer together. We began to see each other more frequently, and by the time Christmas came around, I knew that I couldn’t be without her.

She had won me over with her heart and soul, and Athens brought us together. It wasn’t just her sweet smile and her laugh, but it was also that smell of Athens in the fall and the bite in the air toward wintertime that made me fall in love.

Over the next few years we created so many amazing memories together. Our times at OU were so special to us that we both found it very difficult to move on.

In the fall of 2003, I took Mandy to the steps of Galbreath Chapel, where her parents were married 24 years earlier, and proposed to her.

It was the culmination of five years of friendship and love developed and nurtured by our time at Ohio University.

Editor's Note: Bradley and Amanda shared the meaningful (and sometimes humorous!) placards displaying table numbers at their wedding reception Sept. 23, 2006. Each placard was based on a favorite location in Athens, including Pickering Hall, where they first saw each other; Bryan Hall, where the couple first said "I love you;" and favorite date spots such as Perk's and Bird Ice Arena.

Click here to view a sample of their placards:
Pickering Hall
Nelson Hall
Bryan Hall
Seigfred Hall
Galbreath Chapel