They say that good things happen out of tragedy. David is living proof of that. 

The Beginning:

Hurricane Ike came through the Houston area September 2008 and unfortunately a tree had fallen on my house during the storm, causing my mom, brother, and I to move in with my grandparents. While living there, things were really crowded and the tensions were high so I decided to spend more time at my new friend’s, Amanda’s house. I probably wouldn’t have spent so much time with her if it wasn’t for the hurricane. Well, her and I were out walking due to the power still being out. One day we were walking down her cul de sac and I see a group of guys a few houses down. Before I know it, these guys in this car speed over to us. The guy in the passenger seat had curly hair and blue/greenish eyes. I thought he was the cutest thing. Amanda’s response:’DO NOT TALK TO HIM’ Of course, I don’t listen and when he asks for my number I give it to him. He heads back to his house and we spent a few days talking on the phone and texting back and forth. I hung out with him at Amanda’s house along with his friend for her and it was amazing. I knew there was something about this boy. We were laying in the bed of his truck looking at the starts and he kissed me. I’ll never forget that. Homecoming was right around the corner and I knew I wanted to go with him…he would keep avoiding the subject and when I finally asked him about it, he said that he promised his ‘friend’ that he would go with her. I didn’t think much about it but then he told me he wanted to be with his ex and we were done ‘talking’…I was hurt. More hurt than I thought I would be. 

The night of our first kiss <3

So homecoming came and I went to the dance with my best guy friend. I had one of the best nights of my life…and then I ran into David there. Alone. I have to admit, I was pretty satisfied knowing he was alone. I had the prettiest dress on, my hair looked good, and the only night that I can recall I actually felt like I looked amazing. The way David looked at me when he saw me…I knew he was going to try again. 

As soon as I got home from the dance, his name popped up in a text message on my phone.

We started ‘officially’ dating October, 21, 2008

We took things slow at first, but about a month into the relationship, we were head over heels. People wanted a relationship like ours. We had talked about marriage and planned to do so after graduation. He was joining in the navy and I wasn’t entirely thrilled with it at the time, but I tried to be supportive. David was my first real boyfriend. My first love.The rest of our junior & senior year spent together was incredible. 

Everything changed the morning after graduation day.

The Break Up:

I had gone to the hospital the next morning for my yearly cardiologist checkup. He told me that I would have to have heart surgery that summer. I handled it completely the wrong way…I was so scared. It seemed as if he was scared too…I needed him to be the strong one for me. My plans for going off to college were down the drain. At least momentarily. I suddenly felt trapped. My attitude towards life had completely changed. My views on David changed. I wanted out. I wanted to experience life outside of him. He was all I knew. I became the biggest, most ungrateful bitch. I hate myself so much when I go back and think about how I was. I pushed him farther and farther away. He was going away to the navy and I was going to be stuck in our hometown with no life ahead of me- WAS MY MINDSET AT THE TIME. I NOW know that, that was ridiculous to think, but I was going through a hard time.

The morning of my open-heart surgery

After my surgery, I was already checked-out of our relationship. Everything he did annoyed me, I didn’t want to spend time with him. I just wanted out. I wanted to see what else was out there. I was selfish, immature, and stupid. A week before he left for boot camp I got the courage and ended it with him. He begged for me to change my mind for months. I was a heartless bitch. I can admit that.

A year and a half went by. I had tried talking to him on several occasions, but he hated me. Which was understandable. I dated this other guy almost immediately after David for about a year because honestly, I didn’t know how to be alone. I missed David. A lot. But I knew he was in the navy, enjoying his life and I was still stuck in our home-town. At the time, I didn’t believe in long distance relationships. I couldn’t even get him to talk to me anyway.

It wasn’t until I started dating a marine when I realized that I don’t have to have a man by my side every day. And that long distance is possible. That was a terrible relationship, but I did learn that very good lesson from him. When the marine and I broke up, I was very hurt. He hurt me the way that I hurt David. It hit me like a ton of bricks…I needed to apologize. I texted David on 11/29/2011 asking for understanding and forgiveness. It was difficult to talk to him at first, but slowly our walls started coming down and we realized why we fell each other in the first place. We have both grown up so much this past year. I saw him the day he came home on leave on 12/21/2011 which would have been 3 years and 2 months together if we had never broken up. 

The night I saw him again:

His mom didn’t know I was coming so of course I had to meet him outside but boy, it was incredible.

I got out of my car, he looks at me and smiles & I ran to him and started sobbing saying how sorry I was. After a few minutes of holding eachother and crying (he was tearing up too I think, I kept hearing him sniffle). We backed up and got a good look at eachother and just started laughing and smiling. It was like we’d never broken up. It was like the past year and a half didn’t happen. It felt like I had just seen him yesterday. I was taken back to the times when things were good between us. All of the feelings came rushing back. When we hugged again, he lifted my chin up and kissed me. 

I know we have a long road of recovery ahead of us, but now is the time to learn from our mistakes and let them make us stronger and better as individuals, & as a couple.

No one can make me feel the way he does. When he simply looks at me, my heart wants to jump out of my chest. No one can love me the way he does and I can’t, nor do I want to love anyone like I love him. I’ve screwed up so much this past year and I hurt the one person who ever truly loved me. I’m ready to spend forever making it up to him.

Update 1-9-2012: We are engaged! Getting married March 2012!

Update 4-9-2012: We are MARRIED :) As of April 4, 2012 around 7pm. So happy that I get to spend the rest of my life with the greatest man alive.