D + A

Dan and I met at Eastern Arizona College during the spring semester of 2010. I was actually friends with his brother and his brother's roommates so I'd seen him around Matt's house a time or two. We had the same anatomy class and he was friends with some of my friends.

Well I thought he was pretty cute and definitely smart (DOUBLE WIN!!) and I really wanted to meet him, but I honestly didn't put too much thought into it. One night, Raegan and I decided to be good little students and actually go to the library and study. We brought popcorn of course and made a mad dash upstairs so that no one would see the food...not that you couldn't smell it. Upstairs there were a couple of other people studying. It happened to be Adam Hall, Morgan Hooper, and coincidentally Daniel Haban.

We sat at the table across from them and got right down to doing our homework...and eating our popcorn. Morgan and Adam left, and pretty soon thereafter so did Raegan, but she left me the popcorn. I was doing anatomy homework and Dan started talking to me (he probably asked for some popcorn) and was trying to convince me to move to the same table he was at. Well...I'm just a little stubborn, so I didn't move. He came and sat at my table and we shared the popcorn and I kept right on going on the anatomy homework. We ended up talking, and to be honest I don't even remember what we talked about, but it was just a fulfilling conversation. I felt completely comfortable talking to him and we talked about our families and it was just one of those conversations that you just know this person is going to be a really great friend of mine.

Well after said conversation, I was hooked...not really but it definitely peaked my interest. I got his number, shot him a text saying we should study for anatomy again sometime soon. He agreed. We got together one night to do homework and ended up talking again (we had a lot of great talks that semester...and usually pretty late at night) and the point got brought up that his roommate had planet earth. I of course was ecstatic because watching planet earth is one of my favorite things to do with my little brother. I mentioned that and he said we should watch it sometime. I agreed. A couple of days later, after being added on FB I wrote on his wall that we should watch it sometime.

First date: I went over to his house and we were going to watch planet earth. We went to Basha's to get some popcorn and drinks. We ended up getting green Hawaiian punch and a box of popcorn, and some milk for Dan. On the way out of the store (and he will still deny this) he totally tried to hold my hand. I ripped it away and kind of made a scene almost...I don't embarrass easily. It was pretty funny and we had a good laugh about it. So we came back and watched a couple episodes of planet earth, he held my hand, and then took me home. I was on cloud 9 to say the least.

Unfortunately, things got a little messy and complicated after. I really liked him and I seriously kept waiting for him to kiss me. We had a talk one night and he said he wouldn't kiss me until he knew he for sure was going to date me. Ouch. And there was another girl. Well to make the long story short, he picked her. School ended. He went to Nebraska. I went home, and as far as I was concerned I was never going to speak to him again. He was dead to me.

I get a text sometime in June and quite late at night. It surprised me. And then I reminded him again that I wanted nothing to do with him and I did not want to speak to him. Didn't hear from him for the rest of the summer.

Come August, I'm getting ready to go back to school and the lesson in Church that Sunday was about forgiveness...ironic. I had a moment and decided to give up my vices and stop holding grudges against people. At this time I wasn't actually thinking about Dan, but he came to mind later when the chat window popped up on FB. We chatted for a brief few minutes, it was cordial, but friendly, and I remember telling him I'd see him at school.

I don't think I was ever quite so nervous to go to anatomy that first day of school. I knew Dan would be there, and I was really excited to see him. I keep thinking though that he was just going to break my heart like he had before, so I had resolved to just be friends. We could do that, right? Well anatomy came, he sat by me (YAY!) and we talked. It was good to see him again, but of course this other girl had anatomy with us too and practically rushed over to talk to him and I distinctly remember thinking just like last time. I got up and walked out of class, chuckling to myself and resigning even more to the fact that we were going to be just friends.

We went on another date to go see a movie, and I was falling....again. I couldn't stop myself though because I loved being with him. It came to the point though where we had to talk...the talk about where this was going. I told him that I felt like I always came second and I wasn't going to put up with it again. I pretty much ended it, squashed it like a bug.

The next day, he said no that he wanted to date me and be with me. And that was the end of it. That was in September.

Our first kiss was in October.

We got engaged in March.

We were married in May.

The best day ever.

"Right from the start, you were a thief. You stole my heart."