Our Fairytale...Chapter 2

Are you ready for the second installment of Our Fairytale?  Well, I hope so because I’m ready to write it!  I must admit this part is harder to write than the first one…but I’ll get to that in a bit….

          After our first “date”, Will and I became inseparable.  We hung out every spare moment and began to get to know each other very well.  Whether we were running errands together, watching the clouds pass by on moonlit nights at the riverside or chatting till 5AM the fun never ended, and that was all just in the first month and a half…which I will have you know- we did NOT EVEN KISS during that period.  I know that’s hard to believe, especially since I slept over at his apartment a few times when he wouldn’t let me drive home after we had our late night chat sessions, but that’s why this relationship is so unique in today’s world.  I am truly lucky that Will understood that I wanted to take things slow, and that I needed to fully close the previous chapter in my life before I allowed this new relationship into my heart.

          Let me tell you, waiting for that kiss was the best thing either of us have ever done.  When you allow for the natural growth of your feelings before you turn to the physical, it teaches you so much about yourself and your partner, gives you a concrete foundation for the relationship AND builds up some serious electrical sensations for when THE KISS happens.  Boy was it worth the wait!   I truly knew after that, that I was in it for the long haul, and it’s a really good thing I knew that or we would not have made it through the hard times.  Yep I said it- “the hard times”.  It’s never all rainbows and butterflies, and if someone tries to tell you it is, then they are either oblivious or lying.  I hate to be so blunt, but it saddens me when I see people acting fake in and about their relationships.  Why try to pretend something it’s not?  Instead of that you should be either A- working to fix said problems (if the relationship is truly worthy of fixing) or B- single and looking for the REAL relationship you should be in.  Now let me get off that soap box and back to the real story:

At the WORST possible time, I developed Hypoglycemia.  This is a condition that occurs when your blood sugar gets too low.  It somewhat happens to everyone, such as when you haven’t eaten and you feel sick, grumpy or shaky, but I feel these symptoms more than the average person and have even passed out on a few occasions, which is kind of scary.  Normally, you wouldn’t think that it would affect a relationship, but we did not know that I was developing it, so when I was having crazy mood swings we had no inclination of their cause.  Honestly, I’m pretty sure if he wasn’t falling in love with me, he would have run for the hills…I would have if I were him.  Instead, he was patient with me and took it all like a champ.

          We were both barely out of our teens, learning about ourselves and struggling with our own inner issues- all the while trying to build a relationship that neither of us was looking for in the first place.  I had been in transition from my last relationship, while he was still in his young buck phase (a bit of a ladies man to put it nicely) and neither of us was looking for a relationship in the first place.  Another opposing factor was that Will was offered a job to run an Inn in Maine for the summer and possibly longer.  This was a huge opportunity for him and he was unhappy in Florida, so it was a logical choice to make.  With the status of our relationship as it was, I knew that this was either going to make or break us and only time would tell.  I of course, threw several fits and tantrums, since I did not want him to go, but when it came down to it, we both knew that one way or another, this was something he needed to do. 

          Surprisingly, the distance was easy to bare.  Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder when two people truly love each other.  When I looked at the big picture I knew that I would rather have him in my life, even if he lived all the way in Maine, than not have him in my life at all.  Again, I’m not trying to say everything was peachy keen, but it was reassuring that the distance was easier than I had anticipated.

Through out this time we both went through many changes, trying to find ourselves without losing “us”…I was finishing up college and he was just trying to find himself.  He was mostly toying with the idea of joining the military, since he had always been interested in following in his parent’s footsteps.  Now I had sworn UP AND DOWN that I would never date a military guy due to my bad experiences in Pensacola (a very military town), so I did not like that idea.  I begged and pleaded for him to change his mind, but he is just the kind of guy that our country needs to be in the military, and thus I eventually gave up arguing and asked that we build up our foundation first and THEN talk about that huge commitment.  Thank heavens he agreed.  I knew that if we were going to ever going to work, we needed to get our relationship in the right place before we added that kind of strain to it.  Plus if I was going to sign myself up to be with someone in the military I had to prepare myself mentally.

          Can I remind you this was all still happening in the first six months?  Holy cow this seems like even more now than it did while it was happening.  With all these forces acting against us, I honestly wouldn’t have believed we were going to end up together if I hadn’t have lived it.  Speaking of which…all of our problems came to a head in the fall of 2008.  The Inn was closed for season, so Will was out of work and stuck in Maine, while I was working on graduating and due to some other extemporaneous problems- We. Broke. Up.  It’s hard for me to even type that.  It was a time we were both feeling lost and it happened.  There was even a whole week where we had no contact with each other.  I remember talking to my father about it.  I told him that I felt like I had the wool pulled over my eyes.  How could Will have loved me as much as he said he did if we couldn’t make things work?  I’ll never forget what my father said or even be able to thank him for what restored my faith in our future. 

          “Janna,” he said, “I have never seen ANYONE pull the wool over your eyes.  I have also never seen you care so much for someone.  If you know this is right in your heart then I believe things will work out.”  My father had never even met Will, so part of me thought that he must be wrong…the other part of me prayed that he was right…I am happy to say now, that my father is a very wise man and I know better than to question him.  By the end of January, we were officially back together.

          Phew...well I think that's enough for today.  I usually keep my blog pretty light and upbeat, but you can't appreciate the good without knowing the bad right? The good news is, the rest of our story is where the fairytale truly begins.  Now I'll just leave you with some Photos from our first year, while I get ready for date night!