Once Upon A Time... Part 16

That night I had a smile on my face that could never be erased. I was happy. This was it! He would be mine and I would be his. My sisters had left and the rest of the family had gone to bed. I went down to my room and swooned just a bit. I was in heaven and Dan was my angel. As I lay in bed, knowing I wouldn't get to sleep soon, I thought over the last almost 12 years of dating.

My first date was my junior prom. He didn't have his license yet so I drove his mom's car. He ended the evening by standing on his tippy toes, rocking back and forth asking, "Do I get a good night kiss?" The relationship ended when he yelled ugly remarks across the school courtyard to my good friend. There was the one who would be at every Regional Dance just to dance with me. I always knew when he sent a letter to me because a 10 foot radius around the mailbox would reek of cheap cologne. At one of the dances he requested King For A Day by Thompson Twins and dedicated it to me. There was the one who I was set up with just moments before they were to leave on a group date. We played pool then went to a play. After the play he asked me what I thought was the oddest question. "In your opinion, what was Christ's best quality?" I realized after he took me home that I never even knew his name. There was the one who asked me out and with every question he asked me, he would disagree with my point of view and say awful things about my opinion on the matter. He was very upset when I said I didn't want to go out with him again. There was the one from work who had to pull over every 10-15 miles to put another quart of oil in his car. He talked a lot about hunting and dead stuff. There was the one who took me to see Legacy and talked about how he and his friends could do a better job than the prophet. I called him on blasphemy and asked him to just take me home when he asked if I wanted to get something to eat. There was the one I wrote to on his mission for 2 years and when I went back out to California to see him, made eyes at my sister's friend who had come to keep my sister company while I went on a couple of dates with him. I drove all the way back to Utah myself and played The Carpenters really loud over and over just because I knew she hated it. There was the one from my ward who was a fun friend and who I knew was much younger and who I knew kinda had a crush on me. He took me to a concert in the park and we talked about how long we'd been home from our missions, and I said I'd been home a couple of years. He said in a slow voice,"How old are you?" I said I was 26. (He was 22) The rest of the date went not so smoothly and friendly. There was the one who I went out with a few times. He got a cold and stopped calling me. I took a "get better soon" basket with tissues and hot cocoa and meds in it. He wouldn't come to the door. I never saw him again. There was the one who actually asked me out 3 times, even though he never went out with a girl more than twice. He had told our Bishop he would marry me "if he had to". Whatever. There was the one that was a polygamist. There was the one who beat his wives.

Now there was Dan. My dark brown eyed angel, Dan. Dan who thought I was wonderful yet knew I had so much potential. Dan who knew that creating a family would be tough yet who would do whatever it took to get our family here. Dan who thought my nose was the cutest nose he'd ever seen. Dan who loved to listen to the sound of my voice when I taught Gospel Doctrine and wanted to ask me out just to hear my voice again. Dan who knew that without me, he would be lost and alone forever!