Introducing: My Man!

Back when I was a teenager, relationships and friendships were not completely christened until they became 'Facebook Official.' This was back before Facebook gave its users the ability to 'like' every photo. Instead, friends would leave nice comments to show their support - in the form of cyber gushing, oohs and awws, and whatever else.

So, to keep with social network prescriptions, my boyfriend and I made our internet debut this weekend. Since this blog is part of the internet, I figured that carrying over the announcements and officialities to my little neck of the universe would be a great idea.

So this is us. I am just going to call him Boyfriend for now.

And we have a great story.

Boyfriend and I met when we were both still in high school. We went through different high schools, and knew each other from attending the church youth group. I cannot remember why or how we first started talking, but I guarantee you that it was made possible by the wonderful world of MSN Messenger (a now obsolete 2000s reference that has been replaced by Skype and texting).

Over those years, we mostly chatted online, and acknowledged each other publically only when absolutely necessary (Boyfriend was pretty shy). Then, Boyfriend left for university. We continued to chat through his university years, going out for coffee on occasion when he was home on weekends.

Then I started my undergrad at Redeemer, and everything changed. We still chatted, but I remember finding myself more and more annoyed by him and his persistence to keep a friendship going. I hadn't realized he was interested in me until the summer when we went to see the movie 'Leatherheads' (starring Rene Zellweger and George Clooney) and honestly, I don't remember anything about the movie except that he held my hand and I was 19 years old and terrified.

And then, I pulled my favourite relationship move and ran far away. I remember not talking as much after that, and only going out for coffee once a year to stay in touch. The messages stopped. The texts stopped. And I seemed to be free to live my life. I thought that was what I wanted, and I guess in some ways I needed to spend my time 'living my life' at Redeemer.

There was a whole year where we did not speak to each other - or at least, I did not respond. 

But Boyfriend was faithful. He waited until the right moment to congratulate me on grad school, and to inquire if he could take me out (on a real date!!) before I left for two years again. I finally accepted after a few weeks of talking and catching up I realized that I was still terrified, but this time I couldn't run away emotionally. I guess I never really had, it simply took me a whole to figure out that a romance that had begun when I was a teenager was meant to continue.

Boyfriend and I always had a connection, but I was too young and too naive to realize that what we had was something more than friends. It always had been.

So on the warm June night of the date, he picked me up in a rebuilt yellow and black Ford Mustang and took me to dinner, for a walk, to our (incredibly) small town's fair, and finally to a campfire at his home where talked for six hours and shared our first kiss as a couple. 

The rest, as they say, is history.