Augie Sweethearts: Tracey Lau '99 and Mark Lau '00

Submitted by Tracey Lau of Bettendorf, Iowa.

To say we met in the least likely place to meet your soulmate, is an understatement when it comes to Pref Night. Just two freshmen kids enjoying college life and athletics at Augie. I was a shy girl who broke out of her shell that night, walked across the room, and met this cute boy who towered over the crowd. He walked me home and asked for my number because he heard there was a date party the following night.

Soon after, I got to meet his parents, since our hometowns were 20 minutes apart. I met his mother and she was "passing all the tests". (I knew from an early age that it was necessary to have a nice mother-in-law!) Sophomore year was fantastic and heart-breaking. Mark and I saw each other almost every day, but by the end of this year, we knew Mark was leaving Augie for a Division I volleyball scholarship. Time apart only made our relationship stronger because words in phone calls and emails were what our love was based on.

My senior year, in between swimming prelims and finals of the Augie Invite, Mark walked out of a room during a sorority candle lighting, serenaded me (with his friend playing guitar), dropped down to one knee and proposed in front of over 60 sorority ladies and my parents as witnesses. I had never felt like a celebrity before, but the next week in school, everyone heard "Mark's proposal story." And now almost exactly 22 years since the night we met, we are back building something new, with four kids, because of our great love and love of Augustana.