"A Brown Headed Stranger with a Five Letter Name"

Sometimes when I'm with him I still can't believe it. Is this really the same Daren from over a year ago? How did this happen? Where did it start? It's been months and it still blows my mind. I still remember the first time I met Daren with all of my roommates. He was in my ward last summer and the first day in church my roommates pinpointed their apartment as the most attractive row of guys in the ward. I was dating someone at the time so I turned my head dutifully. My roommates quickly became friends with Daren's roommates, but both of us were a little out of the loop; at first anyway. We officially met him when his roommates brought him to play wallyball with all of us. He doesn't remember this, but I remember that he let loose and went a little bonkers. I have the picture in my mind of him jumping up and down in a very frog like manner on the wallyball court. My roommates proclaimed praises of his hilarity when we got back to our apartment. I smiled and nodded as they laughed and talked about his entertaining antics on the court and of course his attractive features, again turning my head (metaphorically) with the dedication of a faithful dog. Daren and I never really hit it off. We were barely friends. When the Fourth of July came around, my roommates planned a weekend trip to Montana with the fav guys' apartment. I wouldn't be going, however. It was my duty to return home to Palmdale to my dear sweetheart who would be anxiously waiting for my visit. My roommates had a wild adventure on their road trip and developed a strong relationship with Daren and his roommates. While they were out doing this, I was heading for a fall. On my last night in Palmdale tragedy struck! My darling sweetie pie determined that our time of nearly two years together was over. What dreadful news! Cruel twist of fate! My unsurpassable faithfulness had been tossed aside! So I returned to school. I frequently tagged along with my roommates and their tightly knit group; seeing Daren on occasion, who I don't believe I ever had a direct conversation with. We went to his and his roommate's championship flag football game and cheered them on. "GO PINK WARRIORS!" "Go James! Go Greg! Go Daren!" was the closest Daren and I ever got to chatting. At the end of the semester, we all went our separate ways and Daren and I parted without a second glance at each other.

Now picture this: Winter Semester 2010 rolls around and I am back in Idaho. Months have passed and my attitude has changed. I am in love with Rexburg, excited to make new friends, and I'm more involved in my own life. I see my almost friend Daren in the Hart building and I emphatically greet him; generously displaying the gap between my two front teeth in a wide grin. He has forgotten my name. "It's Daniella." Still smiling. I bump into him in the gym sometimes and at church on Sundays though he is no longer in my ward. Always a pleasure, although I still know close to nothing about him. The new, more friendly Daniella invites him to come to my apartment and have a summer 2009 reunion with my roommates. He comes, and spends time with my roommates and I. Nothing happens. Still see him around. Still smile. Spring Semester begins. He wants to come over again. He does. He's funny and oh so handsome. I run into him at the gym again, we chat. I may have even batted my eyelashes once or twice. Later that night I'm in bed. About to fall asleep, roommie Alyssa walks in. "Daniella are you asleep? If your not asleep you should come into the kitchen." Blankets fly and I run, bare feet pounding on the thin apartment floor, "Sorry, girls who live below us." I slide to a stop, a squeal of pleasure escapes my curled lips. On the table staring back at me, a case of muffins and Sunny D wishing me a good morning and asking me on a date. Unexpected, but certainly not unwelcome.

I wonder why I didn't see it in him before. Why wasn't it there a year ago? I think my mother said it best, "Isn't it funny how you see someone, and then you see someone?"

So now we have been dating for three months and I'm still wide-eyed amazed by it all. I don't think anyone saw it coming, but boy did it come and its here to stay. It's still hard for me to believe that there is a person out there who fits me this well, a person who makes me this happy, a person this good for me. He's out there alright. He's real and I get to hold his hand everyday. I get to look at him and see him looking back at me. I get him, how did I swing that? Well, I have no idea but I'm not stopping to ask questions. I am mad for this handsome fella and there's no way I'm letting him go.