It was the first Wednesday night of September 2010. Senior Chuck Lawless was at Cafe 210 West with his friend enjoying a performance by the Go-Go’s.

The crowd was getting rowdy and beer was spilling left and right. Lawless stood behind a pack of girls, subjected to the slush. Concerned that they thought he and his friends were the ones soaking everyone, he turned around to explain.

One girl from the group stood out to him. The band made it too loud to talk, so Lawless took to his phone instead. He typed a message and showed it to her, and she responded the same way. This would go down in history as the first conversation between Chuck Lawless and Sydney Moser.

They danced together for the rest of the night. Lawless got Moser to agree to a date for that Friday and ended the night by kissing her on the cheek.

That Friday, the two met at the now-defunct restaurant and bar the Gingerbread Man. They continued to see each other over the coming weeks until they officially decided to be “exclusive.” As a graduating senior, Lawless originally had no intention of dating anyone. He planned to play the field and enjoy his last year at Penn State, but Moser was different.

With graduation on the horizon, the two tentatively became boyfriend and girlfriend. Lawless looked to find a job after graduation, while Moser planned on pursuing her master’s at Purdue. Their futures were headed in separation directions, so until graduation they decided to keep their relationship status open.

The summer after graduation they realized the distance was worth it, and decided to stay together. Moser’s pursuit of a master’s turned into pursuit of a Ph.D., and five years later they are still going strong.

For four years, their relationship lived through Skype calls, long phone calls, and visits. The distance was hard but it only made them stronger. They’ve had some crazy adventures together, including taking a forbidden path to climb the “Haiku Stairs” in Oahu, Hawaii.

Sydney plans to graduate with her Ph.D. in Food Science this summer.

Coincidentally enough Lawless wasn’t the only senior who’s “single” plans changed. The friend that joined him at Cafe 210 that night met a girl a few weeks later. They also have been together for five years. The moral of the story? Maybe a Wednesday night at the bar isn’t always a bad idea.