And On The Third Date, I Knew

So you want to hear a good story, my story? Well I hardly know where to begin. My story is made up of so many smaller stories some good, some sad, some funny, and others highly inspirational. If my story is anything however, it is truly a love story of the greatest kind, a wonderful testament to the incredible strength of love and perseverance of the human heart. My husband is currently deployed to Iraq where he commands 30 men, who risk their lives everyday as they patrol the dusty streets of Iraq struggling to stabilize the region in order to prevent it from sliding into civil war. I have not seen my husband in 71 days and it will be another 294 days until I am able to see him again. The time feels insurmountable. Looking at his picture, dressed head to boot in pixilated body armor, an m-14 slung across his chest, surrounded by beautiful smiling Iraqi children, I am lost in our love story. As with so many couples Dan and I met at college. Dan was an incredibly handsome junior on the cross country team looking to hang out with some girls on a Friday night. I was a freshman with nothing better to do. After a few hours of shared nervous laughter amongst my girl friends painfully aware of the socially awkward state of the party, as cross country parties so often tend to be, we called it a night and soberly parted our ways. One email and a couple nights later, a second meeting was arranged. Baring the awkwardness of the previous evening the time was passed in jumpy dialogue which was gratefully put at ease with the suggestion of a movie, the only movie available...Practical Magic, thus resumed the awkwardness intensified by the two hours of silence. By the time of our third meeting, to this day I am surprised there was even a third meeting, all awkward feelings had magically dissolved and I was utterly shocked by the knowledge that was revealed within my heart. This is the man I am going to marry I found myself suddenly aware. Thus began the whirlwind love story that was to be our life. Dan and I shared a wonderful two years in college filled with cross country meets, more parties though considerably less awkward, late night study sessions, and as he was a ROTC cadet two wonderful military balls. With the end of Dan's senior year and graduation upon us we arrived at our first great challenge. Dan was headed to Georgia for officer training and eventually Ranger School. I however, had two more years of college remaining this first one of which I was to spend studying in Florence, Italy. All I had ever been told was that long distance relationships never work. Would our love survive such separation and strain? I knew that somehow we would have to make it because I had come to understand Dan as none other than the love of my life. We decided we were up to the challenge and thus began the long walks down our separate paths. I had never cried so hard at having to say good bye to someone. I left for Italy and Dan arrived at Ft. Benning, we wrote many letters and kept journals which we mailed back and forth to each other. After several months our relationship was tested yet again when Dan entered Ranger school and we were forced to endure weeks on end with no communication. It was difficult though I know it was so much harder on Dan who was forced to work in freezing conditions, sleep deprived, and hungry. With the arrival of Christmas Dan was granted two weeks leave and we were reunited in Rome after eight months of separation. Seeing him for the first time reaffirmed everything I had desperately clung to in my heart. This was the man of dreams, the love of my life. After several days of simply feeding Dan and allowing him to rest so as to recover from Ranger School, Dan and I ventured out to explore the cities of Florence and Rome. We had an incredible time as I played tour guide showing off the beautiful cities revealing some of their wonderful secrets. However, as we were standing beneath the oculus in Rome's ancient Pantheon shortly before Christmas Dan decided to reveal a secret of his own. Lowering one knee to the beautiful marble floor Dan asked me to be his wife as he slipped a gorgeous sparkler over my finger. I was utterly and purely delighted. However, the joy was short lived as all too soon we were separated once again. Dan returned to Ranger School and I home to the states. Two more months passed and once again we were reunited, this time Dan proudly displayed the Ranger tab on his shoulder. By this time Dan and I had been made aware that Dan was scheduled to deploy at the end of June. Talk of the wedding quickly came to the forefront and much time was spent debating when to have the wedding. It was finally agreed upon that we would wait to have our wedding upon his return in order to allow enough time to plan the event of our dreams, grant our guests the time needed to make arrangements, and most importantly allow our wedding to truly mark the beginning of our lives together, not another separation. However, as the deployment date loomed closer we became painfully aware of the great benefits marriage provides particularly the fact that a wife, not a fiancé, will have greater access to information regarding her husband during deployment. The decision was made and before we knew it we were crossing the border into Idaho where we were married in a civil ceremony at the appropriately named "Hitchin' Post." We saw that we could elope and also have the wedding we had always hoped for. Thus followed two months of wedded bliss as we shared an apartment just outside of Ft. Lewis. Dan worked during the day while I spent my time preparing for the LSAT exam. Any reservations we may have once had melted completely away when we say how wonderfully easy it was to live together. Dan once remarked, " I love living with you. You don't complain when I leave the toilet seat up." I replied, "well babe you don't complain when I leave it down." We lived each day to the fullest and every weekend was spent camping, hanging out with friends and loved ones, and visiting Washington's beautiful places. We continued to plan for our wedding which will be held on August 10, 2007 upon his return. Before we knew it June had arrived all too quickly and Dan and I were yet again forced to walk down separate paths however, I know we are going to be just fine and our marriage possesses a rock solid foundation due to the challenges we have already accomplished and the one we are now accomplishing one day at a time. We are proof that long distance relationships can and are successful, and are quite possibly even stronger than traditional relationships due to the communication skills that are forced to develop and the great bond that is ultimately cemented. I miss Dan with all of my heart. I have good days and bad days as I eagerly await the day we will be together again and ultimately the wedding we will host. I have learned that life is so often unpredictable in what it decides to toss your way and that even the greatest of loves can sometimes arrive in the most awkward of packages.

 

Send mail to KeysDAN@keysdan.com with questions or comments about this web site. Copyright © 1986-2012 KeysDAN Enterprises, Inc