So, I'm going to take a minute and just spew my feelings.
The back story:
When I was a junior in high school, I was on the dance team and ate lunch with the same group of friends nearly every day. Our group was mostly a few girls on the dance team and their boyfriends and some others that were able to deal with our quirkiness. One of those people happens to be one of my friends 10 years later. In high school, like most other girls, I struggled with self confidence and immaturity. I didn't know what I wanted from life and I didn't know how to actually value myself or some of the genuinely good people in my life. This friend was always an unconditional friend that was funny and willing to sing songs with me in my car after school. Because he was a couple years younger, I never allowed myself to really pursue anything or allow it to happen... not to mention that he was flirty with most of the dance team girls. Fast forward to my senior year around homecoming. I didn't want to go alone, but I wasn't dating anyone at the time. My friend stepped in and was willing to take me to my senior dance. I was the one with the driver's license, so I ended up driving us to dinner, which was really nice, and then to the dance. We were able to get our pictures taken and then, for some reason, we didn't end up getting to have a dance with each other. At the end of the night, I dropped him off and went home and we ended up texting for a few hours. He shared that he had liked me, but I was hesitant to allow anything to happen and basically rejected him.
Fast forward to where we are both at in life now. I am a divorced, single mother to an amazing 5-year-old princess. I am pursuing my Masters degree in Marriage & Family Therapy. Oh, not to mention I still love near the West Coast. He is currently in the Navy and living on the East Coast. He is now divorced and single. We have a mutual friend that we have both stayed in touch with for the previous 10 years. After hearing one of the songs that we used to sing together come on the radio, he had reached out and let me know he had thought of me. We started talking again and catching up on life in general. He had made jokes encouraging me to visit him. I am a planner by nature and spontaneity is not exactly a characteristic I excel in. However, I decided to just take a chance and booked a flight. I have a fairly conservative family, so I was somewhat surprised when they seemed supportive and encouraging about my upcoming trip. I told him I had booked a flight and that I would actually be coming to visit. (In all honesty, part of me was anticipating the rejection or to hear that it wasn't a serious request.) To my surprise, neither of those things happened.
Over the past few weeks since I have booked the trip (for which I am leaving for in about two and a half weeks.... it's hard finding a satisfactory weekend when you're in grad school), we have been texting constantly and FaceTiming daily. I definitely look forward to seeing him at the end of a long day. Talking to him has reminded me that I don't have to change who I am to be accepted. I no longer feel like all of my "flaws" are a bad thing. I'm learning that honest communication is possible. I'm learning to find hope and potential in my future again. I'm not sure I've ever known someone that knows how to make me laugh nonstop and be sensitive and sweet within minutes. I catch myself daydreaming and excited for possibilities. We both had obstacles in our past, but I think we both needed those to become the people that we are today. It's nice to find someone to whom you can have such a connection with and not be afraid to be yourself. I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of the story plays out.
The back story:
When I was a junior in high school, I was on the dance team and ate lunch with the same group of friends nearly every day. Our group was mostly a few girls on the dance team and their boyfriends and some others that were able to deal with our quirkiness. One of those people happens to be one of my friends 10 years later. In high school, like most other girls, I struggled with self confidence and immaturity. I didn't know what I wanted from life and I didn't know how to actually value myself or some of the genuinely good people in my life. This friend was always an unconditional friend that was funny and willing to sing songs with me in my car after school. Because he was a couple years younger, I never allowed myself to really pursue anything or allow it to happen... not to mention that he was flirty with most of the dance team girls. Fast forward to my senior year around homecoming. I didn't want to go alone, but I wasn't dating anyone at the time. My friend stepped in and was willing to take me to my senior dance. I was the one with the driver's license, so I ended up driving us to dinner, which was really nice, and then to the dance. We were able to get our pictures taken and then, for some reason, we didn't end up getting to have a dance with each other. At the end of the night, I dropped him off and went home and we ended up texting for a few hours. He shared that he had liked me, but I was hesitant to allow anything to happen and basically rejected him.
Fast forward to where we are both at in life now. I am a divorced, single mother to an amazing 5-year-old princess. I am pursuing my Masters degree in Marriage & Family Therapy. Oh, not to mention I still love near the West Coast. He is currently in the Navy and living on the East Coast. He is now divorced and single. We have a mutual friend that we have both stayed in touch with for the previous 10 years. After hearing one of the songs that we used to sing together come on the radio, he had reached out and let me know he had thought of me. We started talking again and catching up on life in general. He had made jokes encouraging me to visit him. I am a planner by nature and spontaneity is not exactly a characteristic I excel in. However, I decided to just take a chance and booked a flight. I have a fairly conservative family, so I was somewhat surprised when they seemed supportive and encouraging about my upcoming trip. I told him I had booked a flight and that I would actually be coming to visit. (In all honesty, part of me was anticipating the rejection or to hear that it wasn't a serious request.) To my surprise, neither of those things happened.
Over the past few weeks since I have booked the trip (for which I am leaving for in about two and a half weeks.... it's hard finding a satisfactory weekend when you're in grad school), we have been texting constantly and FaceTiming daily. I definitely look forward to seeing him at the end of a long day. Talking to him has reminded me that I don't have to change who I am to be accepted. I no longer feel like all of my "flaws" are a bad thing. I'm learning that honest communication is possible. I'm learning to find hope and potential in my future again. I'm not sure I've ever known someone that knows how to make me laugh nonstop and be sensitive and sweet within minutes. I catch myself daydreaming and excited for possibilities. We both had obstacles in our past, but I think we both needed those to become the people that we are today. It's nice to find someone to whom you can have such a connection with and not be afraid to be yourself. I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of the story plays out.