Daniel:

Weddings are an excellent place to meet people, as Whitney and I can attest. Two years ago Whitney was (unofficially) managing the bridal party for her childhood friend Rebecca, preparing for a small wedding with just a few friends and family; I was driving over from Chicago to attend my college friend’s wedding in June of 2020. Whitney will forever give me grief for not remembering our first meeting, so I will let her tell it.

Whitney:

I remember sitting down for the ceremony with my parents to my right and empty seats to my left. A lanky dude in a suit, surgical mask, and Converses with peace signs sat close by - clearly there alone. (Not going to lie, my single self was intrigued.) We casually struck up a conversation and come to find out that both of us grew up overseas. For me, that just led to further interest and intrigue. During the reception, I noticed that this guy was extremely friendly, welcoming to anyone in proximity, and LOVED to dance. Somehow I ended up being thrown into a group dance with him as my partner briefly. I didn't know at all what I was doing, but he was still really nice. At the end of the event, I also noticed how eager and willing he was to help with clean up for the event. By the time, I was asked if this guy could crash on the couch where I was staying (as will be explained further below) I thought he was pretty cool (and kinda cute). The rest of the evening and next morning simply confirmed it.

Daniel:

After the wedding, I was catching up with my college friends after many years and asked if I could crash on the couch at their Airbnb farmhouse to avoid a late-night drive. That night two friends, Whitney, and I stayed up late talking and I was struck by the immense kindness, generosity, and light of this person who had danced into my life.

Let me add a bit of context: Whitney had just emergency evacuated from Kosovo as the pandemic ramped up, ending early the capstone project for her Doctorate of Occupational Therapy. I could tell that she was deeply troubled by having to leave relationships in flux and tasks unfinished, and could easily have dominated the conversation with her stories and experiences. Yet she graciously cared for those of us around her, setting aside her personal crisis; I knew this was someone I wanted to keep in my life.

The next morning I gathered the courage to ask for her number before parting ways. We kept in touch for the next couple of months, texting often and leaving long audio messages as we discussed theology, nerdy passions, and life goals. She shut me down pretty early on, but I played it cool and kept hoping she’d come around. Whitney likes to joke that our relationship is backward in that we met in person first and fell in love online afterward -because on December 10th, 2020, we met for the second time and decided to make a go of it.

The next year involved many flights to visit Whitney in rural Indiana where she worked, occasional flights up to visit Daniel, many hours driving to and from the airport, and many more days spent apart. The months between visits felt longer and longer the closer we became and the more deeply we grew in love for each other. August 2021, Whitney got a job at a clinic in Oak Park, and the months apart were now only weeks apart (because of Daniel’s job).

We started having more serious conversations about what it means to serve God and love our communities as a couple, not just as individuals. We also started having more hard conversations about how our unawareness or insecurities had hurt each other and how to better care for each other. Every time that there has been something in one of us that seemed like a deal-breaker, the Holy Spirit has shown us where we needed to grow and helped us to become more. Sometimes the Spirit speaks softly through stillness and sometimes through what feels like a smack upside the head, but always bringing us closer together and closer to Godsself.

Around the end of March Daniel asked Whitney if she would make a piñata with him to celebrate his birthday (as one does). Over the next two months the giraffe piñata slowly developed, since times together were few and far between with Daniel’s job keeping him out of town so much. Two weeks before the proposal as we were purchasing stuff to go in the piñata, confetti, glitter, bells, and of course candy, Daniel was somewhat cryptic about what he wanted to put in the piñata which made Whitney a little bit suspicious. When it came to a rainy Saturday which Daniel had suggested as a good day to break open the piñata she was still suspicious, but as he had expressed a strong desire to talk to her father first (and we were going to see them for Memorial Day the following weekend), she figured that was a barrier to the proposal happening. Little did she know that the week before he’d secretly driven down to Indiana to have dinner with them.

The day of the proposal dawned drizzly and Gray, which obviously led to some internal panic on Daniel‘s part. After some discussion, we decided to break the piñata under a picnic awning at a nearby forest preserve. We stripped off our shoes and ran through the damp grass, Whitney holding the piñata, Daniel holding the duffel bag of weapons while trying to keep the rain off the giraffe with our drop cloth.

We took turns being blindfolded and worked our way up from least effective weapon (fencing foil) to most effective (cricket bat). After skewering the piñata a couple times, Daniel accidentally beheaded the giraffe with a golf club. After some discussion we set it on one end of the drop cloth, and positioned Whitney as batter while Daniel stood at the other end to catch any debris (or flying rings). She struck it cleanly open, and when she took off the blindfold Daniel was sitting on the ground holding a white package. As he unwrapped it to reveal the ring he proposed and she said yes.