Joey Williams: How I Knew She Was The One

Posted on November 9, 2015

It’s funny to think about the question “How did you know?…” Probably because it’s something my wife often asked me. Not being a very over the top emotional guy, I would deflect the question with “Because you told me!”, or something of that nature. Like I said, I am not a very sappy guy when it comes to all of that.

But I do think there is a lot to be said about the question, “how did you know?”. People are always saying things like “it was love at first sight” and “I knew the moment I saw her”. It sounds nice, but that really wasn’t the case for us.

Dani and I had met a while back in Florida. And from the moment I saw her I knew one thing… She was gorgeous… but not necessarily “Love at first sight”. At that point in my life, the very last thing I was looking for was a relationship. So in some respect, maybe that’s why my mind didn’t go there.

From there, there really was no “relationship” to speak of. We had each gone our separate ways. She had moved to Tampa, and I to Chicago, and we were just sort of doing our own thing in life. Over the next year or so, through the miracle of technology and social media, we kept in touch via text and Facebook. We would talk about people we were dating, share Youtube clips and just casual things like that. It was really at this point that I realized how well we got along, and what a smart match we were. But all in all,

it seemed as if our lives were moving into two different directions.

Until the day came that Dani told me she was moving to Chicago. This changed everything! So once she came to town, we started to date. There wasn’t a ball game or a concert to come into town that we didn’t see, not to mention a burger in the city we didn’t eat.

With both of us being from South Florida, over the holidays I brought her to my Grandparents’ house for Christmas Eve. A family of 60 plus, all under one roof! My grandma puts together the most incredible spread you’ve ever seen. There are kids running all over the house, a million different conversations going, and that’s all part of the tradition we all love. However, it is not the ideal place to bring someone to meet your family… The very reason I would’ve never brought somebody I wasn’t interested in. But something happened that night.

My girl worked the room like she owned it. Playing with my cousins, goofing off with the family… she was having a good time. At one point in the night, I was standing in the kitchen, and Dani was off talking to my little cousin in the family room, and it was as if she was already a part of the family. She just seemed to fit right in and light up the room that night. Right then and there, I knew. I had already known that I loved her, but at that moment, it was like I realized she was a piece of the puzzle that I didn’t know was missing.

From then on, I knew we couldn’t have another Christmas without her. Fortunately for us, we won’t have to.