I Remember
I remember the moment I saw him for the first time. Real, in person, in front of me.
We'd become good friends online. I'd already gone through a cycle of developing a crush, telling myself that I was still in high school and he was 1,000 miles away, getting over said crush and adopting each other as brother and sister. Of all the online friends I was going to meet that day, I was most excited to meet him.
Earlier in the year we had nearly met, but ended up missing each other in a crowd of thousands of people swarming the country's capitol city. I had cried. Now my grandparents were driving us up a narrow country road in Virginia and I was impatiently waiting to catch site of the house where he was waiting.
A few animals met us as we parked and I jumped from the car. I think a few dogs and chickens but that part of my memory has faded. I remember looking at the brown house in the evening sunlight, picking out the front door and making my way up the path. I remember opening the door and looking into the kitchen. And there he was.
He had been finishing dinner or sitting with some of the children. I'm not sure. I remember recognizing him from the photos we had shared and seeing him look up and smile as I walked in. I remember him jumping up and running over to give me a hug.
I had talked myself out of having a crush on him. He was there with a girl I figured was going to end up being his girlfriend soon. But he was still one of my best friends and I was so happy to finally meet him. Later on, tired and slightly overwhelmed from meeting so many friends, I quietly slipped over to the sink to wash some dishes. He noticed and came over to help and talk to me and I can still remember how incredibly, wonderfully happy I was.
I have a photo from later on in that week of me, and him, and another friend. We are dressed in our medieval fantasy clothing from a themed scavenger hunt. I remember smiling for the camera, standing close with our arms around each other and just as the shutter clicked I rested my head on his shoulder. The sunlight created a glare off my glasses and I have a huge smile on my face.
I didn't know that just a year later the girl I thought would be his girlfriend would be dating someone else. I didn't know that I would not only have a crush on him, I would be falling in love. I didn't know that he would find himself falling in love with me too. I didn't know we'd start dating. I didn't know that ten years later we would be married, that he would make me smile every day, that his shoulder would be the place my head most often rested. In that moment I just knew that I was there, with him, and that was enough.
We'd become good friends online. I'd already gone through a cycle of developing a crush, telling myself that I was still in high school and he was 1,000 miles away, getting over said crush and adopting each other as brother and sister. Of all the online friends I was going to meet that day, I was most excited to meet him.
Earlier in the year we had nearly met, but ended up missing each other in a crowd of thousands of people swarming the country's capitol city. I had cried. Now my grandparents were driving us up a narrow country road in Virginia and I was impatiently waiting to catch site of the house where he was waiting.
A few animals met us as we parked and I jumped from the car. I think a few dogs and chickens but that part of my memory has faded. I remember looking at the brown house in the evening sunlight, picking out the front door and making my way up the path. I remember opening the door and looking into the kitchen. And there he was.
He had been finishing dinner or sitting with some of the children. I'm not sure. I remember recognizing him from the photos we had shared and seeing him look up and smile as I walked in. I remember him jumping up and running over to give me a hug.
I had talked myself out of having a crush on him. He was there with a girl I figured was going to end up being his girlfriend soon. But he was still one of my best friends and I was so happy to finally meet him. Later on, tired and slightly overwhelmed from meeting so many friends, I quietly slipped over to the sink to wash some dishes. He noticed and came over to help and talk to me and I can still remember how incredibly, wonderfully happy I was.
I have a photo from later on in that week of me, and him, and another friend. We are dressed in our medieval fantasy clothing from a themed scavenger hunt. I remember smiling for the camera, standing close with our arms around each other and just as the shutter clicked I rested my head on his shoulder. The sunlight created a glare off my glasses and I have a huge smile on my face.
I didn't know that just a year later the girl I thought would be his girlfriend would be dating someone else. I didn't know that I would not only have a crush on him, I would be falling in love. I didn't know that he would find himself falling in love with me too. I didn't know we'd start dating. I didn't know that ten years later we would be married, that he would make me smile every day, that his shoulder would be the place my head most often rested. In that moment I just knew that I was there, with him, and that was enough.