Our Story
In Nicole's Words | In Danny's Words | In Melanie's Words
Nicole is Melanie's sister, and she largely claims credit for Melanie and I finding each other. So without further ado, here is Nicole's telling of the tale.
December, 2007. I’m in a singles ward, mostly against my will, in Sandy, Utah. My roommates picked the ward and I’m just tagging along, doing my duty, pretending to make efforts in the singles scene. Shortly after we join the ward, there is a service auction to raise money for a Sub-for-Santa program. I actually go to it. (Please be amazed.) At said auction, there is a guy named Danny who is auctioning his digital painting skills. I am a painter, but don’t really understand what he’s talking about. Digital? You mean, you can paint without brushes and paint and smelly chemicals? That piques my interest and sticks in my mind.
Two weeks later, our ward holds its last ever Linger Longer after church. (We don’t know it’s the last one, but shortly thereafter the practice is discontinued.) I ACTUALLY GO TO IT. (Full-fledged astonishment is now called for. This is during a brief and extremely rare period in my life when I am making concerted efforts to be social, which is drastically against my nature.) While I’m getting food, I notice the guy on the other side of the table also getting food, and recognize him as the afore-mentioned Danny. Calling him by name (because for some odd reason I remember it), I ask him about his digital painting processes, which leads to a longer discussion, since we are both artists and both went to BYU. (I still maintain that half the fun of painting is the mess, which is completely eliminated when painting on a computer. Clearly we don’t agree on this point.)
I miss the next few weeks of church, because of going home (to Ohio) for Christmas, and then becoming violently ill. Now it is well into January, 2008. Out of the blue one day, I get a phone call from someone named Danny, a full month after the Linger Longer. Who is Danny? I think he’s the guy I talked to at the Linger Longer, but I’m really not sure, and I’m too timid to ask. He asks me out, to dinner and a play.
So I go on a date with Danny. Only at this point, I can’t actually remember if that’s his name, or if I’m getting that confused with something else. Once he shows up, I do recognize him as the Linger Longer guy, but I spend the whole evening unsure of his name, and I’m too embarrassed to admit it. We have a good time together, and he is clearly a very nice, funny, AND intelligent guy. (I’ve been single for ten years. Those kind are hard to find.) I go home and think, “He will be a great husband… for someone else.” It’s just not clicking with me, and I feel bad about that because he’s so awesome. I also have the thought (yes, at this early stage) that he and my sister, Melanie, would get along really well.
Thus we enter the long, awkward void. I have rejected him, but cannot get the idea of him & Melanie out of my dopey little head. For the next year (Yes, an entire year!), I periodically rack my brains, but simply cannot come up with a nice way to say to him, “Hey, I’m not interested, but you want to meet my sister?” It just sounds too harsh. (There’s also the added complication of Melanie living 2,000 miles away in Ohio.) A few months after our date, he switches to a different ward, and I confess I’m a little relieved to have that awkward interaction removed. However, he does keep bubbling up in my head, darn him. (We can call this inspiration, right?)
January 2009. Still unable to forget about this random Danny guy, I stick him in one of my prayers: “Heavenly Father, take care of Danny. He deserves a nice wife.” TWO DAYS LATER, he plops down next to me at a Fireside. Keep in mind I have not seen him (or heard from him or heard anything about him) for approximately eight months. Granted, he did not exactly choose to sit by me – his roommate, Mike, is friends with the girls I’m sitting with, which is how we all ended up on the same bench. Danny and I have a brief conversation, in which he finds out I now work at a library. He mentions that he has written some novels that he is trying to get published, saying that someday I may see them circulating through the library. At this point the Fireside starts.
Sadly, I fail to pay much attention to President Monson’s talk. Instead, I spend the whole Fireside thinking, “I AM NOT CAPABLE OF BELIEVING THIS IS A COINCIDENCE!!!!” I asked for divine help for Danny, and now apparently I am supposed to be the tool to provide that help. So I’m also racking my brains again (I do that a lot), trying to figure out something I can say to Danny afterwards in order to establish continued communication. I don’t know what role I’m supposed to play, but clearly some form of communication would be helpful. Finally, I hit inspiration. I can ask more about his books! (Yes, this should have been fairly obvious to me, and I should not have needed an entire hour to come up with it.) Now all that’s left is for me to gather the courage to talk to him again once the meeting is over. (Mike is now sitting between us, so etiquette wouldn’t necessarily require more conversation with Danny at this point.)
The meeting ends. I look down to gather my things, and glance up in time to see Danny already heading full-speed towards the door, mere seconds after the final “Amen.” I know that there is no way on earth I can bring myself to call him on the phone later on, so this is my chance, and I’m losing it. Prepare to be absolutely flabbergasted: I CALL AFTER DANNY. (He’s really booking it down the aisle. I almost have to yell.) I’m so surprised at myself, that I almost look around to see who said Danny’s name. Oh, that was me. He comes back, I ask about his books, and ask if I can read one. He cheerfully agrees, saying he could use some feedback.
Henceforth, emails are exchanged, as Danny sends me his novel (“Guardian’s Tale”), and I try to figure out the best way to give feedback/proofreading advice. I also begin shamelessly plotting. How can I get Danny and Melanie together? Should I ask him if my sister can read his book too, or should I ask Melanie first if she wants to read it? The Fates are on my side, and it turns out I don’t have to muddle my way through that particular puzzle. One night while on the phone with Melanie, I mention that I’m reading this guy’s book that he wants to publish. Before I’m even done explaining the scenario, she is eagerly saying, “Ask him if I can read it too!”
So I do. Despite Danny’s proclaimed reluctance at having too many people read his unpublished work, he sends her an introductory email to see if and how he should send her the book. After that ONE EMAIL (which is not terribly long, in Danny terms), Melanie sends me one asking, “Is this Danny guy nice? Should I propose?” (That is a direct quote. I still have the email.) Let it be understood that Melanie is by no means boy crazy, and this is a highly unusual thing for her to say. Of course I tell her yes, he is nice, and she should definitely propose. (What are wise, all-knowing older sisters for, anyway?)
Soon, Melanie and I are regularly referring to Danny as her fiancé, and plotting together how they can go from long-distance editing to an actual relationship. We both finish “Guardian’s Tale,” and Danny is set to give me a copy of his second book (“Lifeweaver,” or as Melanie dubs it, “Purple Cow”). We agree to meet for lunch, since he is giving me an actual paper copy of this one (for which I am vastly grateful.) Upon hearing this, Melanie is rightfully indignant: “How come YOU get to go out with MY fiancé?” (My answer: “Proximity, darling.”) After the lunch meeting, Melanie wants to know how it went. I give her her marching orders: “I am NOT KIDDING, you need to marry Danny, he is so awesome. Start praying about how to make it happen.”
In all of our discussion about the intended marriage (of which Danny is as yet blissfully unaware), I forget that neither Melanie nor I has actually told our mom about this guy, his emailing relationship with Melanie (they are emailing a lot now, not just about his books), or the fact that we have evil plans. While on the phone with Mom, I casually mention something about “the guy that Melanie’s going to marry.” Mom’s exclamations and confusion remind me that she is ignorant on the subject, so I have to fill her in. She immediately offers to pay for half of a plane ticket so that Melanie can fly to Utah to meet Danny. Mom hangs up and tells Dad about this guy. Dad offers to pay the other half of the plane ticket. I have to call Melanie and confess that I spilled the beans to Mom, for which I get a slight reproof. She can’t be too offended, however, because she decides to take up the offer, and the next thing I know, she’s booked a flight to Utah.
And so it happens that Melanie flies across the country to “visit family,” but really to meet this guy that I brilliantly found for her. But you can read all about how they continue from here, in Melanie’s and Danny’s versions of how they met. I would just like everyone to know, that I take full credit for having the idea first, and being the all-important catalyst. (It should also be noted that Melanie did not end up having to do the proposing.)