Daniel's Abbreviated Version

I first laid eyes on Willa in Chemistry class sophomore year of high school. It was second period. She was wearing her medal because she had just won Class B Cross Country. Though that was quite cool, I thought nothing more of that girl.

The first time I spoke with her was junior year. I thought not much of it. Very shy. Over the course of the next two years we became friends.

Of course, it was only when she and I went to the same college in Omaha deserted from familiar friends and family did we start to talk and hang out more - especially since she was in a lot of my classes for engineering. We learned to do homework together and find some adventures here and there.

Sophomore year of college is when we began to date. That’s four years after I first laid eyes on her, for those of you who are keeping track. And, for those who know their history, that’s basically the exact timeframe the entire American Civil War was waged. It was a good time.

Well over five years later I proposed. It was on a rock. Not a soul for miles around - just how I wanted it to be. She never saw it coming.

And now we will be married until one of us is dead. I’m very optimistic about the future because we will have to have more adventures and find out how to work with one another. She’s an intelligent and kind woman. I believe she’s the one for me.

Willa's Long Version

Daniel and I were part of the same group of friends in our junior and senior years of high school which is when we first got to know each other while hanging out as part of a larger group. I found him to be a fun and funny person but never considered him as anyone more than a friend as I was dating his best friend at the time. Once senior year summer was over, I was no longer dating his best friend and was not interested in being in a relationship as I began my busy first year of college running cross country and track at UNO and studying engineering.

I participated in a week-long camp before the beginning of my freshman year of college called the "Engineering Readiness Academy". I remember being suprised to see Daniel on the first day of camp walking into the dorms to unload his stuff. It was great to know I had someone I already knew with me at the camp. We were both excited to be on our own in a new big city. One of our first excursions alone together was on a Friday night of that camp when we had nothing to do and were looking for something fun to do in Omaha. We discovered a "Foam Glo Run" at Werner Park and decided to go check it out. It was wild and we had so much fun laughing and joking together and at the dance party at the end.

During freshman year I lived on North Campus and Daniel lived on South Campus and we saw each other in our engineering classes, at the Newman Center, and when hanging out with mutual friends from time to time. Towards the end of the school year, we began hanging out one-on-one more often. I was discovering that Daniel had many more great aspects to him besides just being fun and funny! He was great to talk to, a great listener, caring and kind, ambitious and smart, hardworking and respectable. He also took his faith seriously and I admired how he volunteered his time to be a server at the Newman Center. Once we parted ways for the summer, I found myself missing him and wanting to text him all the random interesting things that were happening on any given day.

The next school year, we picked up right were we had left off. We were both at school two weeks early, Daniel for band, and myself for cross country, and we had time to kill in between practices. We had the idea of putting together a 1,000 piece puzzle which led to lots of time spent hanging out and talking in a study room at the John Paul II Newman Center on South Campus where I now lived. As we spent more time together over the next month-and-a-half, Daniel finally asked "What is the status of our relationship?" That was our first discussion of the potential of dating. Daniel, not wanting to ruin our great friendship was very catious and said he needed one whole month to think about it and some "space." I let him have his time and space and then on a tense walk on October 20, 2017, he sat me down at nearby Stinson park and asked me to be his girlfriend, I was so excited!

Our time dating in college included fun dates, many classes together since we were in the same major, cooking and eating dinner together, some fights as we were working out being in a relationship, runs, bike rides, and trips during spring and summer breaks, and many late nights of studying. Some of my favorite memories include: Daniel being my radio station and belting out 80's tunes on his bike while accompanying me on my training runs, our first trip to Burwell, NE over spring break after putting our fingers on a random spot on a map of Nebraska, coming up with solutions to hard engineering hpomework problems together in the study room at JPII Newman, a scavenger hunt that Daniel set up for me, a trip to Breckenridge, CO for mountain biking, whitewater rafting, and a visit to a goat cheese farm, along with lots of walks and talks.

After graduation, Daniel began his master's program and stayed in the Aksarben area and I began working and moved into an apartment in West Omaha to get a yard for the new Vizsla puppy I was going to get. Although we no longer could spend virtually all day, every day together, we got together on the weekends and as many week nights as we could. My favorite memories from the last four years since graduation include: Exploring the lakes, parks, and trails of West Omaha with our pup Ruby, hikes in the loess hills of Iowa, getting to know each other's families better, a trip to Hawaii with Daniel's family, canoeing down the Niobrara in Valentine, and exploring new events and festivals in Omaha together.

To save more money for a house and to be closer to Daniel, I moved back to the Aksarben area in the building across from Daniel's in January 2023. By this point we had been talking about getting married for a couple years but we kept kicking the can down the road, mostly on my account as I was busy with work and wanted to feel ready to tackle the responsibilities of marriage and wedding planning. We decided at the end of the summer we would get engaged.

We had a trip planned up north in early June of last year to see my sister and brother in-law who lived in North Dakota at the time. We were also going to do a canoeing trip in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota and make a quick trip across the border into Canada. Our first part of the trip was the Boundary Waters. We showed up at the outfitters and they shook their heads at us because we were overpacked for the type of canoeing we would be doing. We didn't realize we would be crossing lots of portages where we would have to carry the canoe over our heads and make up to quarter-mile trips back and forth to grab the rest of our stuff. They lent us some equipment including portage backpacks and off we went. As we approached the first rapids, we were tossed and turned, and water got in the canoe and we about flipped out. We didn't know there was a portage path where we were supposed to get out and walk the canoe across. I also didn't know that Daniel was carrying an engagement ring with him!

On the 3rd night of camping, we were on a big outcrop overlooking the water as the sun was going down and to my utter astonishment, Daniel proposed! I said "yes" and then we celebrated. But then overcome with anxiety and not feeling ready for all the change that was about to happen, I gave it back an hour later and said " Can you give me until the end of July like we had planned?" I probably crushed him but I wanted to do some more praying and thinking before comitting to something so big and had been pushing it off (and I have an anxious personality).

After getting back from the trip, I did some more thinking and praying and then one-day in middish July I had a deep sense of peace about marrying Daniel during a holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament. I realized that I was never going to be perfect and never going to be completely ready but giving my life in love to someone who is so worthy, supportive, and faithful to me, who I love being with, and who I can't imagine living without was a good thing that I wanted to commit to and that can help us both on our eternal destination!

I am looking forward to celebrating our wedding day in July with our family and friends! Daniel and I will then ship off to St. Lucia for a relaxing honeymoon afterwards. When we get back, Daniel will move in with me to our new house we recently bought near Bennington, NE and we will start our new life together!