Amare et Sapere Vix Deo Conceditur

Our story begins on a Sunday afternoon in September of 2009. I don't remember the occasion, but she does (unfortunately). She had moved to Chicago about a month earlier, and so remembered well what it was like to be the new person that didn't know anybody. Seeing the new guy sitting by himself in a pew at church, she decided to do the nice thing and go talk to him. The conversation went a little something like this:

K: So what brings you to Chicago?

D: I'm a law student at the University of Chicago. (Expressed in such a tone, apparently, that he thought she was supposed to be impressed.)

K. Huh. (She wasn't.)

D: And what are you doing here?

K: I'm studying to be a dietitian at Rush University.

D: Oh . . . so . . . you cut people up?

K: Um, NO. I'm going to be a DIETITIAN.

D: Oh . . . so . . . you HELP people who cut people up?
K: NO. They help plan what people eat when they're at the hospital.

D: Ah. That's cool. (Awkward pause followed.)

K: (thinking to self: yup, there's another jerk I won't have to worry about talking to.)

So it wasn't exactly love at first sight; it took a few more glances than that. She caught my attention before I caught hers. The earliest point at which I remember thinking it might be a good idea to try to ask her out was when she talked about why she wanted to go into dietetics: it was something she could do and still be a mom. She said it with a little bit of chagrin-- good thing she picked a career where she could be a mom, now that she's out of BYU, single, and (being in Chicago) looking to stay that way for some time, right? I remember thinking that I might have something to say about that. (Yes, that's correct. She first sparked my interest by telling me I didn't have a chance.)

I finally got around to asking her out . . . several months later, after three people (with no apparent collaboration) told me within the same week that we'd make a good couple. I figured I should probably take the hint.

Now, I've never considered myself a dating expert, and this particular episode probably won't convince anybody otherwise, but hey, it worked in the end, so I should get to take SOME credit for it. My strategy was to make a deliberately ambiguous approach. I was overtly flirty, but was clearly just joking around (or WAS I?). I was either interested in being her friend or in something more, and she could decide which was the case. She went along with for a long while-- we spent our second date, for example, planning out our wedding. (I wouldn't recommend that particular course of conduct under most circumstances, by the way, but both of us agree that it was one of the best dates either of us had ever been on.)

At some point, she realized what I was up to. Not too much longer after that, she decided that we might as well try the thing out.

And thus it started.