A convenient(?) turn of events

This is the next installment in a rather long series about how Daniel and I met–and have become engaged. Click on the “Our Story” tag for context.

My professional conference was in Philadelphia the second week in October–and I knew I needed to attend in order to get those all-important CEUs.

Unfortunately, I’d been so busy, I waited until the last minute (maybe a month before?) to register and get my plane tickets. Once I got to searching for my tickets, I realized that I was in trouble.

The plane tickets out of Lincoln and/or Omaha were exorbitant.

I began to despair. How much was I willing to spend for this conference?

Before I plunked down my cash, I figured I’d check into the flights out of Kansas City–the nearest major-ish airport.

Good news. I could get tickets to Philadelphia several hundred dollars cheaper coming from Kansas City.

The thought crossed my mind that maybe I could see if Daniel would be willing to meet me in Kansas City before I left–but I wasn’t really sure if it would work. If we did that, I’d have to go early, stay the night at a hotel, and burn my cost savings.

I mentioned the idea to my sister, who had a solution right off. “Just call Katie and see if you can stay the night with them.” I was reticent. Yes, I’d known Daniel’s sister-in-law in high school–but we hadn’t really kept up since then–and it seemed wrong somehow, like I would be using her.

I recounted this to Daniel in one of our evening conversations–and ended up with an unexpected solution. “Well, then, I’ll just ask my brother if you can stay with them.”

The plans were made.

I would travel to KC, spend the day with Daniel, stay overnight with Daniel’s brother and his family, and fly out the next day.

And that’s what we did.

After introducing me to Daniel’s nephew and nieces (one of whom was more than a little shy about me at first), we took off for an afternoon and evening in KC. Daniel took me to the World War I museum. This time, it was my opportunity to be interested because of the company rather than the content, per se (not that there wasn’t some interesting stuff at the museum, because there definitely was.)

Up until the last minute, we still wondered if we might be able to make dinner for Daniel’s brother and his family–but Katie and the kids decided to go to a birthday party they’d been invited to but weren’t really sure about, so Daniel and I ended up going out.

That evening, we sat and talked with Dave and Katie. Katie and I caught up a bit; we all talked a little about life, mostly shooting the breeze. Katie shooed the boys upstairs to give me the dirt on the Garcia family (chief among it? that people will think you’re Hispanic).

Daniel had to be at his uncle’s by ten or risk not getting a bed, so we said an early-ish goodnight and Daniel left.