Wouldn't it be funny if...

Or, the story of our first date.

The day before, we all gathered at Mike's apartment for Rock Band/Movie Night. There was a vacant spot next to Dan on the love seat-- reserved for me only. This was understood by everyone in the room, because word gets around. Word had also gotten around that I prefer a single rose to a dozen, and a princess-cut solitaire to gaudy, garish rings that are almost crusty with diamonds. Mike does enjoy giving people a heads-up... he did it for me, I suppose it was only fair that he did it for Dan :) I was equal parts entertained and embarrassed about the public revelation of these details. Once I had regained my normal, non-blushing face color, I took my seat next to Dan. We sang some pretty awesome duets on Rock Band, and then watched Oceans 11 or maybe 12. I don't know. All I know is that we were both thinking about holding hands and both worried about getting ahead of ourselves. Dan gave me a ride home when everything was done. He walked me to the door where we had another funny side-hug... and then said see ya tomorrow.

The next day was cold and cloudy. January 31st 2009. My last first date, though I didn't know that as I was getting ready. I went through the usual ritual for getting ready, then waited nervously to be picked up. I thought it was weird that I was nervous, having been on countless firsts...

Dan was at the door right on time. I was still scared that we had talked out all of the usual first date material. There was no need to worry, though. We walked out to the car where we started having nice, organic, easy conversation. This was a good thing, because the other couple kind of took a long time to come to the car.

Once everyone was ready, we sped up to SLC, because we realized we were going to be late to see the Joseph Smith movie. About 25 minutes into the drive, we saw flashing lights and were are all terribly amused about what the problem could possibly be. Well, except for Dan, who was more on the freaked out side of things because he was driving. Miraculously, it was not breaking the speed limit. We got pulled over because insurance had lapsed. We had a good laugh and were on our way again with a warning from an officer who was probably just trying to meet a monthly quota. Lame.

This little break from the plan meant that we would not be able to go to the movie, so we went straight to dinner. We went to The Pie, just west of the U of U campus. The food was delicious, and it was nice to relax, talk, and eat. After, we decided to stroll around Temple Square. We were not far from the Joseph Smith Memorial Building when Dan decided it would be a good idea to make a move for my hand. I remember being excited, though a little surprised... he seemed so shy! There might as well have been fireworks going off for the way we looked at each other and smiled. From this point on, we clicked in the most wonderful sort of ways. We stopped near the pool at the front of the temple and stood close. At that moment, I thought to myself, "wouldn't it be funny if we ended up getting married?" It was freezing, so the walk didn't last much longer than that. We drove home a bit later, and then hugged and said our good-nights and promised to do something again soon. Sweet and simple.

I walked into the house, got into bed, and thought, "holy crap, I've found him."

[RACHEL]