Senior Year part 3

Eleven years ago today: Monday, August 23, 1999. It was my twenty second birthday and the day I really knew it was love. Dan had been in Iowa City helping me move into my new apartment the past weekend but had to leave on Sunday to go back to Ames to take care of his own living situation and prepare for his classes at Iowa State that would soon begin. We said goodbye and planned to meet up the next weekend again, as our plan was just to take one week at a time. Neither of us was looking forward to the long distance part of our relationship but we both wanted to make it work. Lucky for us traffic rolls at an average of 80mph on I-80, keeping the drive between Iowa City and Ames under two hours (actually well under two hours but don't tell my dad I said that).

It was early evening and I was standing in the living room talking to one of my new roomates and her boyfriend when all of the sudden I see Dan walk by our living room window. I wondered if I was just seeing things for a second but knew it had to be him as he was wearing his favorite mustard yellow Abercrombie baseball hat, a ringer T, jeans, and (I'm sure they were) shiny white sneakers. In his arms were a dozen roses. "Surprise! Happy Birthday!" he said as he walked in the door and handed me the flowers. He said it with his laughing smile, knowing that a surprise it was. My roomate and I stood with our jaws dropped in total shock, I remember her saying "You were just here!" and going on and on about what a great surprise it was. Her boyfriend smiled and just shook his head. It could have been because it was obvious Dan was smitten and he knew he wouldn't hear the end of it from his girlfriend for months, or maybe it was for the same reason as me...as I was holding a bouquet of crimson and yellow, the colors of rival ISU. I changed into less scrubby clothes and just like that a seemingly uneventful birthday became a night out on the town with the person I most wanted to spend it with.

This bold move was more than just a nice gesture, it was the true starting point of our relationship. Although things had much improved over the summer, I was still a little unsure if he loved me and if he was willing to make the commitment to be with me alone. This was how he told me that he was. From this point on we spent our weekdays working really hard so that we could spend our weekends together without having to work or focus on schoolwork. We spent every single weekend of my senior year together, alternating mainly based on family events and twenty first birthday parties. We spent our time between Iowa City, Ames, Sioux City, and Pomeroy; always together.

I wondered what it would be like between us when our relationship existed away from the sheltered church camp environment where we met. It was a fact; we didn't know much at all about each others lives outside if camp. There had been very few if any opportunities to meet extended family and friends. I imagined the reaction his Pomeroy friends would have when they heard we were dating...I pictured them all standing around their tractors shaking fingers at Dan in disbelief and saying (with heavy twang) "But she's from the city!" Looking back now that makes me laugh so hard. I couldn't have been more wrong! Slowly we made the transition to "normal" life and the more I spent with Dan, his friends, his family, the more I loved him.