I had been on-line dating for about a year and I was getting almost ready to take a break for a few months, when this good looking guy popped up in my e-newsletter from Match. I emailed him and told that I really liked guys with beards and that I thought he was cute. We emailed sporadically for a few months and there were a few times that I thought we might never be more than email buds, especially since we were both a little leary about the distance (we currently have an hour drive between us). But, he kept popping up every week for three months in my newsletter and I thought, “Hmmm, maybe someone is trying to tell me something.”, so I kept emailing. Then we started talking on the phone and it seemed like we never ran out of things to talk about. However, after four months of emailing and talking on the phone, I was a little anxious to know if Dan had thought about meeting in person. So I asked if he had and before I could finish my sentence, he said, “Yes, I thought we could meet at Bennigan’s in Mongomeryville. When would be a good time?” Dan maintains that I asked him out for our first date, but I say he actually did the asking.

Anyway, we met for lunch on a Sunday afternoon at the beginning of November 2006. We endured the standard first-date awkwardness, but it didn’t really last for long. After we had finished eating, neither one of really wanted the date to end, so we decided to go to the mall and wander around. We drove over to the mall together and wandered around for another couple of hours. After only three or four dates, Dan started going to church with me. Although, since I was still singing in choir we didn’t get to sit together very often. It did however, send the entire choir into quite a tizzy that I was bringing a special friend to church. By the middle of December, we were talking about Dan meeting my family and me meeting his kids. We decided to take the kids to a Christmas village to see the lights. Unfortunately, we chose the coldest night of the year to go. It was still fun, just really, really, really cold, so we walked quickly. We also decided that Dan should come up to meet my family during the week after Christmas. That was also quite an adventure. We went to Canada one day for sightseeing and almost got stuck on the bridge due to inadequate id papers. Fortunately, we got through with only minimal emotional scarring.

On February 3, Dan took me to a little restaurant up the hill from him called the Falcon Inn. It’s been around since the mid-1700s. When we walked in, the maitre d’ took our coats and ushered us to a comfortable alcove in front of the fireplace. He brought us wine to sip, while he finished preparing our table. Then, we had a wonderful dinner. After dinner, Dan gave me a little speech about how blessed he was and pulled out a little red box. When I opened the box, he asked me to be his wife and I said yes. Afterwards, as we walked in the door to his house, my phone was ringing. I looked at it and it was my parents. I thought that Dan had told them and that my mom just couldn’t wait any more to hear what happened, so I gave him a look. He told me to go ahead and answer it, so I did. When I told my parents what had just happened, my mom screamed so loud Dan could hear her from the other side of the room.

So, now we’re planning a wedding and looking forward to not talking on the phone to each other nearly every night. We won’t have to since we’ll be able to talk face-to-face after August 26. I definitely know that someone was trying to tell me something in those email newsletters.