How We Met

Neither of us were on the search for a new relationship when we met. I, for one, never seriously considered spending my life with another woman. Melissa was more ready to be in a relationship with one, but she wasn't actively looking, either. Instead, fate brought us together.

We met online, as many people do these days. It wasn't a dating website but somehow, we found each other anyway. We only talked for a few days before we both realized that this was something real, something that was not a phase, and something that was both terrifying and exhilarating.  We lived across the country from one another, but that didn't matter. It also didn't get in the way of us saying we loved each other a mere week into the relationship. We fell in love a month before we made it official. We were both afraid to put a label on what we had- afraid of our pasts creeping in and tainting our future together. We were afraid that saying the word "girlfriend" might make what we had seem high-schooly, or fake... as strange as that might sound. 

Melissa finally got up the nerve to ask me to make it official on February 5. We still hadn't met, and our relationship was a secret to most of our friends and family. But nothing ever felt more genuine or real than the feelings we had for each other, and the incredible relationship we had begun to build.

During my Spring Break in March, we finally got to see each other face to face. I had flown up north to see family, and planned to meet Melissa at a hotel about halfway in between my parents' house and hers. I was a ball of nervous energy on the drive up the highway. We talked on the phone on the way, but I still couldn't believe we were finally going to see each other. I got to the hotel first, and she was still almost an hour away. I took the opportunity to unpack my toiletries and organize my bags- anything to keep my mind and hands somewhat occupied. We got on the phone with our friend Sky, who was probably just as excited as either of us that we were finally getting to see each other face to face.

When she told me she had pulled in the parking lot, I had a brief moment where I just wanted to lock the door and hide. What if our face-to-face attraction didn't meet expectations? What if she thought I was boring, or ugly, or gross, or annoying? Looking back, I don't know how or why I was so afraid. The first twenty minutes or so were quiet and a little awkward, as I tried to remind myself that this was the woman I was in love with. It was her, in the flesh- and that took me a little while to comprehend after living our relationship online and on the phone for two months. Melissa was amazing, though. She prodded me to open up and be myself, at a pace I could keep up with. It turned into an amazing night, and I wouldn't take back that first meeting for anything. It was so hard to wake up the next morning and leave.

Now, it's more than a year later and we are planning my move for June, where I will be packing up my life in Texas once and for all, and moving in with my love. After a year and a half, we are thrilled to have this to look forward to in the very near future! It's been a long road, but we know that some people never find their other half, and we are thankful that we only had to spend the first year and a half apart and not any longer. I will be blogging about the move and adjusting to my life in a new city and state. 

Thanks for reading!