it's going to be okay: 3 years

What follows is what I wrote 3 years ago. Makes me smile. Love you, Dans.

Wednesday, Daniel texted me and asked if I would go out to eat with him at Red Robin tomorrow.

I, of course, said yes, and instantly began secretly wondering if a proposal would occur.

I told only Roxanne about Daniel’s request, and we chatted briefly about it, but neither of us could figure out if it was for real.

On Thursday, I asked Daniel if I should wear a hoodie or if I needed to dress up.
He said that he would wear what he wears to work (which is typically jeans and a t-shirt). He also said, “It’s really not that big of a deal.” This had me confused. He knows that I would not want to get engaged in jeans and a hoodie, so I decided to dress up anyway. You never know. (When I told him later that he took a risk – I could have worn sweats, he said, “I figured you knew me well enough that you would just know to dress up.”)

When he showed up to pick me up at 4:30 Thursday afternoon, he was wearing my favorite shirt (which he rarely wears to work). He was also quite awkward. In fact, I don’t remember a time more awkward than our first “date.” The drive to Wichita was full of chatting, but Daniel never even tried to hold my hand, which was also weird (especially since I hadn’t seen him for 3 days).

At one point I suggested that my parents could join us for dinner since they were in Wichita as well. He promptly said no. That was odd because normally he’s quite gung-ho about including either of our parents. Once again, I became suspicious. (In reality, I knew at this point, so instead of continuing to badger him, I backed off and just enjoyed the ride.)

Once we arrived in Wichita, instead of driving straight to Red Robin, he awkwardly drove around the parking lot by the place where he first said, “I love you” to me. Finally, he pulled into the parking lot by Abuelo’s and I said, “This is not the right place.” And he replied, “It’s okay.” At that point, I knew what was to come.

We got out of the car and he went to the trunk to retrieve a large, wrapped picture frame and his man-purse. We started walking toward “our spot.” He said, “Are you nervous?” To which I replied, “No, are you?” He responded with a confident, “Nope.” So we walked and walked and walked (I swear it was the longest walk ever). I tried to savor it as much as I could. I thought, “This could be the last time I walk as a single woman.” (I occasionally have odd thoughts like that. No big deal. Just go with it.)

I knew where we were headed, but before we arrived there, he tried to get me to go somewhere else, but I said, “I think you want me to be over there.” And he said, “Oh, you’re right.” So we kept walking. It was very sweet.

We finally arrived and sat by each other. He told me to open the picture. As I was opening it, he reached into his man-purse and pulled out a ring box. It (the wrapped, framed picture) was a beautiful water-color painting—done by sweet LynAnne Wiest—of him proposing to me at that exact spot. (He later told me that it was reminiscent of the commercial that makes me cry about the guy who takes cell phone pictures and sends them to his girlfriend and then the last one is a picture of her – and he’s home! He knows I love that commercial, so it was super special that he remembered such a sweet detail.)

He said, “Heidi Lynn Glanzer, will you marry me?” I might have jumped on his words, but I responded with an excited, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Much merry-making and picture-taking followed. It was truly beautiful and the walk back to the car seemed much shorter.

When we got to the car, we couldn’t figure out where we wanted to eat. I had strangely lost my appetite. He was still starving, so we decided on Red Robin. So for our engagement supper, we had burgers and fries. I kept trying to flash my new bling to our server so we could perhaps receive a free dessert, but to no avail.

After dinner, the flood of communication began. I had been “hiding” a list of people to call in my phone for the past month, so I was definitely ready to break it out. My parents happened to also be in Wichita, so we found them and recounted the evening with them. My sweet brother went crazy on the phone when I told him – I think this was the first instance of “Oh my word, this is really happening!”

The evening was perfect, the ring is flawless, the proposal was so personal, and Daniel is now my fiance. I can’t wait to spend my life with him!

In the past week, we have both felt loved by so many people. Thank you for your loving support and intentional prayers on behalf of our relationship. We look forward to sharing many exciting times with many people in the coming months!

With the Glanzer parents at the Hyatt.

We went to Emily Railsback's art show at Little Pleasures in Hillsboro and found Katherine among the crowd. She let out a piercing squeal that both scared me and made me feel very loved.