How We Met

I thought I'd join in on the "How We Met" link-up at Camp Patton. I figured we're closing in on our 5 year anniversary, so it's a fitting time to look back on the beginning of our journey together.

It all started on a car ride down to Champaign the summer of 2005 with my Ditto, one of my best friends Kristin. We were on our way to an Energizer retreat through the Newman Center at U of I. Just months before, Kristin and I had met on our first Koinonia retreat and became instant friends, laughing in the middle of the night over toothbrushes falling to the floor as we climbed our bunks... I don't know why I still remember that moment, but I do know it was then that I knew we'd be friends for the long haul. But since this is supposed to be the story of how Dan and I met and not Kristin... I should keep moving along :)

Me and Kristin on the summer retreat

One of the many things Kristin and I shared in common was our lack of a boyfriend and the desire to find our prince charming. In Koinonia, the saying was that one of three things happened to everyone in the K-community:

1. You meet your spouse
2. You choose a vocation in the religious life
3. You learn to play the guitar

We were determined to make #1 happen for each of us. We were on a mission to find our future husbands that weekend. Little did I know, I actually would! (and Kristin would as well, not long after)

Spending time chatting in small groups, just a few feet away from each other.
I hope you appreciate my mad Paint skills here :)

There wasn't a distinct moment that I met Dan. There really never was an actual introduction. He was on the service team running the weekend, so everyone pretty much knew who he was. We would spend the weekend taking part in all the same activities, hanging out with the same group of people, and I would start to take notice of him. We played cards, kickball, and people password. But we hardly talked. I just kind of took him in and studied him. I quickly realized that he was someone worth pursuing. Kristin and I shared a dorm room for the weekend, and I remember laying up one night telling her that I wasn't sure why but that I thought I liked Dan. And as I type that it sounds awful, but my point was that I barely knew this guy, but there was just something special about him worth looking into. So the weekend ended, and nothing happened between us.

How fitting to have a picture from that weekend with a deck of cards in his hand. Since then, I have watched him habitually carry a deck of cards with him, been wowed by numerous card tricks, and found a soggy deck of cards in our washing machine. 

So the weekend ended without anything really major happening (outside of the great time with friends and of course growth in my faith- it was a retreat after all!). I started wondering how I was going to move forward in getting to know this guy. I figured there would be plenty of opportunities throughout the next year, since we were both very involved in the Koinonia retreat program. Then I got an email that Dan had sent out to the entire community. He was serving as the spiritual coordinator on the service team for our retreat program the upcoming year. He wanted to share his email and AIM screen name (wow I feel old now referring back to AOL instant messaging) for anyone who wanted to get to know him better or share prayer requests. So being the determined gal that I was, I decided to send him an instant message. And so began our conversations that started it all.

When we got back on campus we planned to meet up at the movie on the quad (one of the planned events before classes started). So we sat on a blanket with several of my friends and watched Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a movie that to this day I still have no idea what it was about. All I could focus on was the fact that this incredible guy was sitting next to me, very close next to me with his arms so close to mine. Within the next few weeks, I invited him to join me at one of my best friends, Carolyn's birthday party. That was the night of our first kiss, and everything just fell into place after that. 

At Carolyn's birthday celebration

In the coming months, things moved pretty quickly. We spent every free moment together, I took a trip down to Effingham to meet his family (and he did not live on a farm like I had initially thought), and my family came down and took us out to dinner. He got the stamp of approval from my family and friends. He even passed the test of my roomie and cousin, Lindsay. I knew I had found someone special. We went to formals together, went on social trips with Koinonia, and spent any free time just hanging around together.

I remember being overwhelmed because I was suddenly getting everything I had ever wanted. Was it too good to be true? I of course over-thought everything until one day I just realized there was nothing to think about. He was it. He was the man I had spent so many years praying for. God had answered my prayers in a big way. So of course I figured out that this relationship was for the long haul, and then it was time for us to part ways. Dan was graduating and starting a job in Chicago, and I still had one more year at U of I. Dan, being the incredible man he is, moved to an apartment pretty close to my parents' house so that I could easily visit when I was home from school. The year was hard on both of us, but we made it through and found ourselves constantly talking about getting married. Fortunately I wouldn't have to wait very long. 

The summer after I graduated and moved back home, Dan took me out for one of my best birthdays to date. We had an amazing dinner at Wildfire and spent the rest of the evening at the Signature Lounge in the Hancock building. It was a night I will never forget, and not for the reason you are thinking. He didn't propose that night, but that night it all became even more of a reality. That night, he flat out told me he didn't want to wait any longer to get married. And me, being the nut I am, starting questioning how all this would happen while I was in grad school. Oh Lisa, you have so much to learn! Trust in the Lord, AND grad school just really isn't a reason to put off a wedding when you know who you are going to marry. To this day I still give myself a smack on the forehead for that one.

At the Signature Lounge on my birthday

Well once that idea was in my head, it wasn't going anywhere. I was ready to be engaged. So it was going to be hard for Dan to surprise me, but he pulled it off by making it sound like he had not even started looking at rings. He was busy with work (which was the excuse), and I was starting to feel like getting engaged was no longer important to him. In fact, the night we got engaged he started talking about how coal was worth more than diamonds. And boy was I starting to get annoyed! So that night we went out for a delicious dinner at Olive Garden. All night he talked about having a surprise for me, but after all the talk about not getting a ring I really wasn't expecting an engagement. We walked back into his apartment after dinner, and sure enough there was a box sitting on his coffee table waiting to be opened. And you guessed it, inside was a ring!

The pictures from that night weren't that great of either of us, so here is one from our engagement session.

And so less than one year later, on August 2, 2008 we began this crazy journey. This summer, we will celebrate our fifth anniversary. I can't wait to see what lies ahead!