Once Upon A Time... Part 15

Sunday morning I got up and dressed my best and was upstairs to wait for Dan. The morning was going slow. I went over my lesson to make sure I had my head on straight. The doorbell rang. Yes! He's here. We needed to go, too. It was almost 11.

I had to sit on the stand in Sacrament meeting because I led the music. So he sat by himself. I think I came down to sit by him after the Sacrament until the closing hymn. I mean, how could I not! I loved that he was there, that he was him and that he was there for ME!

I taught my lesson and was only slightly, okay, tremendously, distracted by my smiling brown eyed angel who was watching me. He seriously just smiled through the whole lesson. I loved his smile. His eyes twinkle when he smiles. We split up for the third hour and I missed him. I watched the clock, willing it to move faster. 2:00 finally came and I met him in the hall. Smiling. Twinkling!

I had him come into the room where we would have choir practice and showed him where the tenors sat. He went out to talk to a guy he had met in class and it disturbed me that he had left the room! He soon came back in smiling and twinkling and sat down. I noticed many of my choir members glanced at the new tenor. All I could do was smile. I probably twinkled a little myself.

As we practiced, we watched each other. I had hope that Dan's superior tenor singing voice would lead my tenor section to new heights. Inexplicably, they still struggled. They seemed to even struggle a bit more than usual. Maybe they were all just thrown for a loop by the most handsome of all men that joined us that day. Hmmm.

It was finally time to go. Home. Together. We left together for my house. Aahh. I introduced Dan to everyone who was already at my house. Parents, brothers. I had told him to bring a change of clothes and we each went to get out of our Sunday go to meetin' duds. Soon after, my sisters and their families started to arrive. They all shook hands with Dan and sized him up. Remember my track record. They were all curious as to what made him tick. Dan played basketball with the guys and we had dinner and made light conversation with family.

After dinner, Dan and I went to the basement to talk and watch a movie. He again asked if he could put his arm around me. Yes, my dear. I don't remember what we watched, but we didn't watch for long. We talked. A lot. We talked about our families, our dreams, what kind of life we each wanted, how many children we wanted, where we wanted to live, what kind of home we wanted to raise kids in. It went on for a while. Neither of us can remember how we got to the end it got to. But it got there. The conversation moved around and around until we got to the point. We wanted the same things. We had the same goals and dreams. I told him that I wouldn't be able to have a lot of kids because of the Diabetes. I wanted to adopt. (This was a big deal and a deal breaker for me) Dan nodded his head and said, "We can do that. I'd like to do that" He asked me if I would stay home with our kids. I said yes, of course. (The deal breaker for him was if I didn't want to raise our own children) We decided that doing these same things together would be a great idea. We talked about which temple we would get married in and when would be a good time to get married. I was laying down on the couch next to Dan with this arms around me. I turned to look at him and said, "Does this mean we're engaged?" He looked at me with those dark brown eyes and said, "Guess so!" We smiled at each other.

This was it. This is what we had both been waiting for. All the turmoil of dating (yes, turmoil of dating!) and the agony of wanting something and never quite getting it. It all culminated in this moment. Dan said, "I think we should kiss." You got it! We did. Wow!

We decided we needed a plan. We also needed a date. First we needed a ring. We decided that we wouldn't say anything to anyone until we had a ring. We planned for him to come get me on Tuesday evening to look for a ring. Oh, yes, I would choose my own ring! We planned to tell our families when that ring was on my finger. It's funny how things never really go the way you plan them to.

It was getting late. We walked upstairs and we held hands. Oh, yes! I held his hand. At the door he said he would be there Tuesday to get me. He kissed me and said he loved me. I was a little taken aback by such a statement. But it was a wonderful statement. And it was exactly how I felt, too. "I love you, too." He kissed me again and said good night. Good night.