Milestones, Part Two.

Update: November 2020

My second semester of university brought a person I can only describe as astounding and even then it barely encompasses his degree of amazing. We first met on a popular dating app, tinder, in August 2018 before I started university. We had great chemistry, but a date didn’t pan out before he met someone else and they began dating. More on that later.

It was January 2019, around a year after I had broken it off with my ex, the soul-draining goblin. I was invigorated by the possibilities that university brought, and I wanted someone to share that awe and wonderment with that I could also cuddle up to. Long distance makes a gal lonely. Hence the summer of dates that followed graduation, but that’s a different story.

We recognized each other, swiped right, and I asked him to lunch the next day. We met at our school’s main foyer. I had a friend with me in case he was a ghost of the past; he wasn’t.

The first moment was as awkward as awkward could get. We made direct eye contact, but a casual wave on my part was the flick that prompted recognition. I still find the obliviousness adorable.

The three of us circled introductions until my friend left us to begin our walk to the chosen lunch spot in city hall. An interesting aspect of that first date was that it was never uncomfortable between us, only uncharted. We chatted off and on throughout the windy journey there, the delicious meal, and the snowy trek back. We arrived at the hallway of his next class, me with a box of leftovers, and us with a shared lingering look before giving thanks and parting ways.

I went towards my club and found a text restating his thanks for sharing a meal with him. (He’s still that charming over two years later).

February 1st, 2019 brought a second date and our first kiss. It was the sweetest and most reassuring first kiss I’ve experienced. It overpowered any that came before it and each subsequent one within our relationship has built upon the love it held within.

The two weeks between that date and the one where we became ‘official’ was full of flirtations and coy hints on what was to come. February 15 he asked me to be his girlfriend while we were holding hands over a table in a restaurant across from our university. (A restaurant they have since torn down). We did push the date back to the 1st of February for an easier day to remember, and to mark our first kiss.

From our re-meeting to now, he has given me the nudge to be a little bit less cautious. To try new things, to meet new people, and to let go of ones that aren’t working.

Well, him and going into an environment that didn’t house my worst experiences. Starting fresh was the best thing to happen for my guarded approach to life.

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Now it’s November 2020 and we’re planning a trip, given that Covid allows, to mark our second new years together and to be alone together for more than a date or a two-night camping trip that passed us both by far too quickly.

He’s looking into after-grad programs and I’m pushing to line up classes; we’re making it work. Our relationship is always bettering upon itself as we better upon ourselves. He is the best external motivator when my inner one falters, and I love him to no end. It’s a relationship I hope that anyone who wants it or needs it, finds. Romantic or platonic, I hope you find someone who helps you better yourself and the world around you. Even if it is just you, because we all could use a little improvement and a lot of love to get there.