Day 202: TWO YEARS!!

This post is probably pretty funny to those who grew up with me in middle school, high school and early college. It also comes as surprise to me in many ways--that I, Leah Fulford, celebrated a two-year anniversary with a boyfriend.

Where to begin on this one? I guess I'll talk about me and not the relationship, since this is my blog and you get my side of every story, like it or not.

I'll start out in the early days. I always seemed to make close friends out of girls who were way prettier than me, and thus more attractive to the boys that we hung out with. They got all the boyfriends. I'm sure I had plenty of personality flaws that drove boys away from me, some that I can identify (extreme selfishness, smarter-than-you attitude, can't-hang-out-because-I-have-to-dance lifestyle etc. etc.) and some the I can't, but I just wasn't anyone's eye candy at the time.

During thost stages, it's not that I didn't WANT to have boyfriends, I just didn't have anyone interested in me and wasn't about to go chase boys down.

When some boys would become interested in me, I'd instantly think they were creepy.

It was a weird time. Cut me some slack.

Overall, I just ended up bitter about boys never liking me and thinking that love was some sort of thing that married people settled on for the sake of not being lonely forever and starting families. As an only child, I virtually never felt (and still don't really ever feel) "lonely" and never wanted to "settle."

Then, sometime in college, I randomly got "pretty" and suddently lots of boys wanted to take me out on dates. This was lots of fun. I enjoyed being in the company of nice men who wanted to give me things like chocolate, and who would tell me I was pretty. However, I didn't want to ever date anyone seriously because I wanted to have an international career and travel more in my twenties and move around to any city that felt right.

So imagine my surprise, when I meet Mr. Mark a month before my college graduation who completely swept me off my feet (ooohhh, the story on that, I'll never live down), made me want to change my life plan and, without even trying, convinced me that we would be in a relationship longer than one I'd ever been in before.

It was pretty shocking to me too! And my friends! "Leah is in a relationship? Like, a real relationship? She's not going on dates with two different boys on back-to-back nights? Is this one of her "secret relationships"? How long do you think this one will last?" and my favorites, "She's such a hopeless romantic. She'd go out on a date with anyone!"

[Allow me to explain that last one...my mom tried really hard to make me open my mind a little in high school to go on dates with those few boys (however creepy the were) and I never obliged. She'd say things to the effect of "just give them a chance," "a date is harmless" and other things like "don't be a complete bitch to every single man ever because I do want grandchildren someday." For these reasons, when boys asked me out, I went. Probably too often, yes, but I was just heeding her advice.]

For the past two years, however, this Mark character actually stuck around with me, and I him, much to the surprise of my friends and family. Things are still good too. I recognize love is something that happens when two people choose to be together every day and make the best of the one and only life they have. Love is about accepting the other person's flaws (and boy do I have a lot of them!) and moving through life as one unit, on the timetable that benefits both. It's about believing every day will be a little better than had that special someone not been in it--not about preventing "loneliness."

And two years has brought plenty of ups and downs, but what a tremendous joy (and learning experience!) to have shared my life with another through them!

Happy two year anniversary to the one who changed my mind about everything :)