A Love Story
By: Monica Harper
Growing up, I was not the typical little girl who pictured her wedding day or believed in my ‘Happily Ever After”. I knew I wanted to get married and start a family, but I never thought of myself as a ‘good catch’, or a beautiful girl that men would fight over. I was a tomboy, who played sports and didn’t wear girly clothes or makeup. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would end up marrying my high school sweetheart. This is how it all started.
Fast forward a few months. We were still talking often on msn, he had asked me out a few times but I kept declining. In November, we hung out again. On November 22nd, I changed my mind. I asked him if I could change my answer to his question that he asked me just a few days before. At 5:05 pm, we started our journey together. A few minutes later, our journey almost ended. He wasn’t sure the distance would work out for us and he was scared to fall in love with me just to not see me at all. We lived 40 minutes away from each other and since we were teenagers, we didn’t have our license nor a car so we had to rely on our parents for drives. I convinced him we’d make it work.
I n the spring of 2004, my cousin introduced me, over the phone, to Tylor Harper. On June 4th, we went on our first date. It was a disaster. I brought a few friends with me, because let’s face it, I wasn’t stupid. We went to the theaters to see Shrek 2. He was late, the only thing he asked me was something about sports, he fell asleep during the movie and then ran off once it was over without saying bye. Was I impressed? No. Was I hurt? No. Was I going to give him a piece of my mind? Yes.
The next time we spoke on msn (Yes, msn, because Facebook was not invented yet), I didn’t hold back. We didn’t talk for a few weeks and by then, I found myself a boyfriend. We still talked over the summer and he kept telling me that he liked me and wanted to have a second chance. After my boyfriend cheated on me, I gave him another chance. In September, the weekend before my birthday, we hung out at a football game and then the Sackville fair. It was a great day, filled with laughter and fun. It was nothing like our first date. That night, before he left, I felt the urge to give him a hug (Yes a hug, because I had only kissed another boy once and I didn’t like it). I felt butterflies, which I hadn’t felt before, and I chickened out.