Once Upon A Time

How do you sum up in words a story of the heart?

For no matter how beautiful I write this, no matter how many flowery adjectives and vivid verbs and perfect parallel sentences I create, it'll fall a little short. But I must try, because my outlook of the foreign and very little understood "male" species is all based around this story. Everything else I say is merely an appendage.

I'd like to tell you my story :) How is it that these tales begin? Oh yes.....

Once upon a time, I broke a boy's heart, and he was my Prince Charming. I'd known this boy since I was 14 years old. He had slowly and surely become the dearest friend I had, far surpassing my boyfriend of a year. He was my go-to guy for everything, the one I would call when a date went wrong or when I needed to go eat Red Robin fries for a night. I was one, huge constant giggle around my Prince Charming. When senior year of high school rolled around, he started chasing me, (what he later called his marathon chase,) and for a while I let him fall. I led him on, played cute and dumb, and then broke his heart in half when it was no longer in my best interest. It was selfish and terrible and awful, and this is where our story began. 

This is where the story began for me, because this is where I learned what trust was.This boy stayed my best friend through thick and thin. He's the only boy I've ever met who meant the phrase: "I'm here for you, and I'm going to be, no matter what." 

One night, at 3 in the morning, I texted him with a great idea: a run in the snow. The snowflakes were massive and the world was white, and i wanted to see it. Naturally, he wanted to do it, because that meant spending more time with me. (He is too good to me, that's one thing I hope you have figured out by now.) We bundled up and took off from our houses at college that were 50 yards away from each other. I'm fairly certain that every car that night stopped, that every person froze, and that the whole earth ceased any movement, except for the falling snow. It was perfect stillness. We ran and talked and caught snowflakes in our mouths, the whole time hearing the silent "crunch" of the snow beneath our shoes. We eventually reached a temple and discovered an open gate. The temple was lighted and we walked silently. I looked up and saw the snowflakes against the backdrop of white-washed mountains. For one second, I didn't analyze anything, I just took his hand and we kept walking. Neither of us said a word about it. 

Right then, I learned what love was. It didn't hit me like a ton of bricks and it wasn't even a realization I discovered at the moment. But in that moment, I wasn't holding someone's hand I was trying to impress. The games for us were over, which had never been the case with me. I was soaking wet and grinning like an idiot. My make-up was long gone and I had the circles of a tough exam under my eyes from the day before. My eyelashes and crazy hair were catching and holding the snowflakes, and he was brushing them away and laughing. He couldn't stop looking at me. In that moment, I was holding my best, best friend's hand, and it was as innocent as two five-year-old's on their way to Kindergarten for the first time. 

It was months before we started dating, but in that moment, I sure loved that boy.

The day we started dating was December 4, 2011. I randomly gave in, took a chance at something meaningful, and leaned over to kiss him. That night, all his friends tackled him with excitement when he got back to his dorm. I wasn't even sure myself what had happened, but I knew that he would never hurt me, that he made me laugh, that he loved me more than I knew someone could love another person, and that he made me want to be better.

He'd always let me get in football position and tackle him on campus, no matter who we were around, just because I'm a complete spaz and I like to tackle people.

I have the best double chin you've ever seen. I'd sometimes look at him and slowly sink my head back into my neck, just to watch him die laughing. 

His friends called him "whipped cream" because "he was so whipped." He'd just smile and kiss my forehead and absolutely agree.

He'd always roll his eyes when I commented on how pretty another girl was. "Pa---leassseee. I've got all I ever want, right here." Then he'd grab me and wrap me up.

Whenever I got a call from anyone, he thought it was his duty to kiss me while I was trying to have a conversation. He'd smile when I tried to pull away and then kiss me more and more and laugh as I tried so hard to focus on what was being said to me. I'd always hang up and drop the phone. 

He has the funniest falsetto voice.

We both have a desire to wear ugly thrift store clothes for the rest of our lives. He rocks white-trash 80's short shorts.

I wanted to lose weight and he wanted to gain weight. Our solution? I gave him piggybacks everywhere we walked. He burned less calories, I burned more, and we got lots of weird looks while we were at it.

We'd go shopping and he'd always bite his lower lip, look at me, look at the ground, struggle breathing a little, look at me again, let out a deep breath, and then just say, "Mmmhmm. Yup, get that." 

He'd always roll me up in a blanket and I'd squirm around in it. I was his little burrito and he thought he was so funny. 

We watched YouTube clips of the minions off of Despicable Me for at least 2 hours.

He loved to hold my hand, and we'd get a kick out of holding hands as awkwardly as possible and watching people's reactions. 

The last thing he said to me, through tears, before he left me, was: "Listen. I love you. I want you to be happy, and if that means being happy with someone else, then gosh...that's what I want for you." 

He's my better half, my partner-in-crime, my best friend. I'm convinced that we love each other more than most people experience in their whole life. 

Dating Rule #1: If you happen to meet someone who you love with every piece of your heart, don't you dare ever forget that. 

And that, my friends, is my fairy tale story.