• 18 May 2019 •

"3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Danny just finished his Junior year at Wheaton College and was interning for a non-profit R33M (raising money for preventing pediatric brain cancer) that summer of 2015. At the same time, Jeffrey Jr., my middle brother, wanted to be partnering with this R33M organization that we could come alongside and support while we were training for speedskating still and help promote their mission. Well, just so happens that Danny had to communicate with Jeffrey and I for business reasons. That didn't stop him from giving me scooter rides and flirting: One day after chatting in the Wheaton College weight room, where he claims he really noticed me in my glistening sweat, he started leaving the weight room, but voiced back to me that he would "email me" later. LOL, and that is where our great beginning started. Not fast, just some good 'ol back and forth emailing. Just "so" Danny to be goofy like that and original = an attractive trait. Throughout that summer, we did a couple things together. One was U2 that Olivia Ritchie had tickets to and put me in charge of finding two others to come along. Texted all the guys in my contact list and only Steven Ticsay responded yes. No one else wanted to go on a spontaneous concert THAT night! Until I thought of Danny, who's number I still didn't have, but saw him from across the Wheaton Football field as I was babysitting two kids in the kids camp that he was working. Walked right up, asked him and he said yes immediately. The untold story (until much later) was that to Danny, he thought he was like the first guy I asked and felt so privileged. Unbeknownst to him, he was literally the last guy. Rest of the summer flew by with our busy schedules and though we stayed in touch and he flirted, I didn't think much of Danny because my own brother and cousin told me that Danny's flirtatiousness was just his personality. It wasn't until Homecoming '15 that we intentionally hung out for 3 hours on a rooftop at Lake Ellyn. That is when WE began :)