I’m a sucker for a good love story. Whether a rom-com film or an enemies-to-lovers story in an epic fantasy book, the warm and fuzzies don’t discriminate…
Having recently celebrated my fav human’s birthday, I could not help find myself reminiscing on everything we shared together.
It is not a story of love at first sight or a whirlwind tale of star-crossed lovers. It is a story of friendship that took years to be cultivated and to grow until such a time we were finally ready for each other. There were years of friendship, growth, heartbreak, frustration, and everything in between.
We met on an unremarkable day in high school. After all these years, we both still remember it.
We had a free period, and I was content with settling in to read in peace, which was a short-lived, when a tall, curly-haired boy confidently plonked himself down in the desk in front of me.
Despite how I tried to position the big-ass book, he didn’t get the hint. In fact, he picked that very same seat in most of the classes and situations we shared from thereon. And the rest, as they say, is history. We became best friends.
It was only much further into our friendship to figure out where it came from. It was the perfect combination of Jesus’ grace that stole his heart and the love of his parents who affirmed that love through his good and more challenging times. (The fact that he passed high school was 100% testimony of that – he had little interest in academics).
Our friendship wasn’t a walk in the park. It took literal YEARS for us to mature. We had to have our own hearts broken (and also sometimes do the heartbreaking) before we were ready for each other.
Looking back, I can pinpoint a thousand moments over the course of our friendship, where it looked like we would or should not have happened. We were pulled away from each multiple times, whether it be by other love interests or moving to study further in different cities.
But when it finally happened, it was undeniable – I just knew he was the one I was meant to spend this life with.
I am grateful for his relentless, verbal diarrhoea. It helped save me from myself so many times over. His confidence was (and still is) infectious and has helped me to be brave enough to do things I’d never done before or to make the most of even the hardest of times.
His ability to connect with almost anyone is unparalleled. That connection helped drill home that I was worth more and that I did not deserve the self-harm I inflicted on myself, whether mentally, emotionally, or physically.
His kindness and silliness are enough to bring a smile even when it feels like the mountain we are climbing is too big to scale.
I will never stop thanking God for our story. It’s one that will likely never make it to screen or print. But it will forever be my favourite and I love that we are still busy writing it…
Shattered Warrior 