Another post from Guest Blogger, Ian Hansen.

Heidi L. Smith is currently in sunny California, and I am still in Hamden. For 3 days. Then I head to Provo to get my MTC on. But before I depart, I am pleased to venture into the blogosphere.

I was at first reluctant to accept Heidi's invitation to write on her blog. But slowly, the inviting turned to forceful asking, the forceful asking to threats, the threats to teary-eyed apologies, the apologies to worshipful pleading on bended knee. I finally decided to oblige the poor girl and grace her blog with this appearance.

Actually she just texted me her password and said hey feel like doing a blog? And I was down with the idea. But I like to think Heidi was on bended knee while she texted me.

I thought I might just explain how I came to know Heidi. Seeing as this is her blog, I doubt anyone reading this knows who I am. My name is Ian, and I met Heidi this summer here in Hamden. Actually, I had seen her a thousand times at BYU. I sang in the Men's Chorus this past school year, and Heidi (whom I did not know at the time) came multiple times a week to watch rehearsal. My roommate (also in Men's Chorus) often talked about that cute red haired girl who always sat in the corner. Heidi and I never actually met though.

And then the end of the semester came. I was headed "home" to wait out the long 3.5 months til my mission. I had graduated high school in my hometown, Duluth Minnesota. But my dad had just gotten a new job. So as I headed off for my first year of college, my family headed off to Hamden. I was not looking forward to the summer: working multiple jobs, and having all my friends back in Duluth.

It was in this spirit of downtroddenness (Dictionary.com confirms that this word exists) that I went church that first Sunday. I walked into the chapel, and saw that red haired girl. I thought of doing a Tiger Woods fist pump to celebrate. I didn't. But my mood changed a bit (a lot). I don't think even Heidi knows this next bit: I spent all of sacrament meeting and gospel doctrine thinking about how I would talk to her. I knew, of course, that I couldn't be like "hey I'm Ian you sat in Men's Chorus sometimes and watched us rehearse and me and my roommate thought you were attractive so hey", so I decided to pull the "wow you look familiar" thing, and then gradually let us figure out how I had seen her a million times. So I did just that after Gospel doctrine, slowly allowing the "where have I seen you" conversation to get to rehearsal, knowing full well that that was where I had seen her.

Needless to say, I felt good. But then a mist of wimpyness descended upon me, and did not lift until I finally sent her a very dorky Facebook message asking her on a date. So we ended up going out for ice cream (after our families had dinner together). As I was driving her home from getting ice cream where we had talked until it closed, I said "hey, I don't really feel like taking you home." Heidi said let's go hang on the playground of my old school. So we did. That first night, we talked til 1am on the playground. I had never clicked with someone like I did with Heidi.

For the next 2.5 months or so, Heidi and I hung out every single day. We both had jobs, but we worked around them. We hung out every single day, and I never once got tired of her. When we both had days off, we would hang out all day. When we both worked, we would hang when we were done, til one of us was falling asleep (or my angry mother would call). I'm pretty amazed she was cool with hangin' so much. I don't have the best of personalities. But I'm glad she was cool with it. I benefited so much from it.

You guys all know how awesome Heidi is. I've only known her for 3 or so months, but she is one of my favorite people. I leave on Wednesday to spend the next 2 years in the southern end of Chile. I will miss Heidi a lot. But I am so glad I was able to meet her.

Thanks for an incredible summer, Heidi.

-Ian

P.S. Heidi's password is really embarrassing. Make sure to ask her what it is, she will be thrilled.