PHOENIX — D’awww! Jane Daniels, a sophomore psychology major at the University of Phoenix (not online), just had a meet-cute in her Intro to Understanding Disorders of the Brain class. Or something meet-cute adjacent?
The sweet encounter started fairly typically; it was like watching a classic Hallmark movie in the making. Daniels, with her big dark eyes and intense eye contact, was biting her lip and laser-focused. The thing in front of her was the only thing that ever mattered. It was simply truth; it was the Earth, the sky, the leaves in the trees and the sun on her skin. It was the first sip of coffee in the morning, the feeling of scream-singing your favorite song in the car. It was the feeling of being known. Fully. Completely. Entirely.
“Um, the kind of words, the kind of language that has you asking, ‘So what are we?’” Daniels tells us, blushing a bright shade of rose.
The words? Not from a “he” but from somewhere else. A class textbook.
“’For a diagnosis of bipolar I disorder, it is necessary to meet the following criteria for a manic episode. The manic episode may have been preceded by and may be followed by hypomanic or major depressive episodes,’” Daniels quotes back to us. “I’ll never forget those words as long as I live. I just feel like we need to talk about this more. I feel it in my heart, you know?”
Daniels and her textbook are set to go on their first date soon — to the school’s psychiatrist.