How We Met!
How did we meet? It's pretty straightforward...we met at a bar. The rest is history.
What?! Hold the phone!
Well, ok...no, that's not the whole story, but I had to give you a reason to read on ;)
First, I just want to say that it's a little bit crazy that we haven't ever shared our story on here. I think part of the reason is that we have wondered if anyone will really care to read it. We've surmised that you might love to find a resource that points you to some affordable Summer dresses, gives you some guidance to the best activities in Chicago in the Summertime, or shows you how to make an industrial pipe shelf unit, but a love story?! No thanks, too busy - I'll just click to the next person I follow who is sharing something much more valuable with me.
And to be fair that may actually be true! I don't anticipate that everyone will be waiting with baited breath for this story, and yet... it's probably my second favorite love story of all time! So how can I not share it? (don't worry, I'll share my first favorite love story soon!)
So, just how did we meet?
Well... we really did meet at a bar! However, there's more to the story! in 2013, Daniel and I were attending two different campuses of the same church. The church was holding a worship night for all campuses that was going to be held at Subterranean which is a bar in Wicker Park. Both of us went to the worship night separately, and at some point during the evening, Daniel introduced himself. We talked for just a few minutes- and I remember he was SO nice... like... SO SO nice. If you know Daniel you know exactly what I mean -he's just very warm with people. Our conversation was fairly short that night- but impressionable for both of us.
Time went on. I was dating someone else at the time, so Daniel and I didn't really spend much time together, but it came about that my brother, Brandon, was moving and was looking for a roommate. Brandon and Daniel had become good friends, so they decided it made sense to become roomies! I started seeing Daniel a bit more as I would pop over to my brother's place. My lingering impression of Daniel was always that he was literally just the nicest human.
One day, I was feeling discouraged about the relationship I was in, and I came over to talk with my brother. We were sitting on the roof, when Daniel walked upstairs. I was in the midst of ranting about something, and then I said "you probably think I'm crazy because you're the nicest human being- you probably never get mad at anyone!" (or something to that effect). In an effort to make me feel better, Daniel proceed to tell about a specific situation in which he got truly ANGRY at someone on his floor in college! Weirdly, it was sort of comforting to know he wasn't perfect... and the story was also hilarious which lifted my spirits ;)
Eventually, I realized that the relationship I had been in needed to end. Little did I realize that Daniel was hoping for a chance to get to know me better, and this was his moment!
Since Daniel is a pretty clever guy, he found a completely unsuspecting excuse for us to spend some time together. On the surface, he just needed me to give him a ride to Bed Bath and Beyond, but in reality he was hoping for a way to spend some time together. One moment from this day stands out in my mind: we were at Bed Bath and Beyond and he was reaaaaaally trying to stretch the time by looking at every section of the store. We were just wandering at this point, commenting on the bizzare "as-seen-on-TV" contraptions, and slowly making our way through the hangers section when a store attendant came up to us and asked if she could help us find anything. Daniel turned to her and said "oh no thank you- we're just casually perusing!" HAHA! To this day Daniel and I will refer to "casually perusing" together!
Afterwards we stopped for a quick snack at 5411 Empanadas, and I will never forget sitting there (on date 0.5 as we later would call it) talking about everything under the sun - books we loved, art and beauty, faith, careers - and thinking "what? you too? I thought I was the only one!" Meaning, I had never found someone who appreciated certain things that I loved in that same way. Things that really mattered to me on a deeper level. Things that many people would dismiss as impractical or sentimental. Like words, and poetry, and fables, and music, and art.
The next time that we really spent time together was just a few weeks later in preparation for a Super Bowl party. We decided we would co-host a party complete with all kinds of finger foods and snacks which would require hours of preparations! We made homemade empanadas, baked brownies, drank wine, watched a movie, talked about our favorite things, and shared about some of the really challenging things we had been through. Some people have told me I'm crazy for this. But after spending that evening together, I went home and journaled (mind you- we were not even dating yet!) that I was going to marry him!!
Shortly thereafter we actually did start dating and we never looked back! Now, after two years of marriage, I can't imagine not having Daniel as my best friend/source of perpetual entertainment/godly leader/hottie/true love! I'm thankful every single day that God brought us together, and I will probably tear up at love songs on the radio until the day I die because I can't believe I get to experience that kind of a love in real life!
Before I get too sappy - I'll wish you guys a wonderful Monday!
If you have a memorable "what?! you too? I thought I was the only one" moment - share it in the comments! We would love to hear about your story too!!
With love from Chicago,
Daniel + Jennifer
