A Love Story

The minute you stop looking for love you run into the person you plan on spending the rest of your life with. For a while now, I’ve been obsessed with the show “How I Met Your Mother”. For those of you who don’t know, it’s one man’s account (Ted Mosby) of how he met the love of his life. For the past 5 years or so he’s been telling his children all of the events that led up to the moment he met their mother. Now my story is still unfolding, but much likes Ted, I’ve had my fair share of ups and downs. Fortunately, these events have landed me in the arms of the man that I can see myself jumping the proverbial broom with. So here goes nothing…

I was running around looking for something to eat when I saw a friend of mine at work. She’s one of the managers that I engage in casual conversation with and being that I was planning a party that weekend I figured, I would invite her over. Unbeknownst to me, one of her nosy employees was listening to my every word. So here I am, telling her to come and bring her boo and that it was BYOB-- since I don’t drink. When I hear someone ask what he should bring. I turn to my right to see this 5’9, slender, dark chocolate brother with dark brown eyes and a smile that made me, well I won’t go there, but let’s just say I had a physiological reaction that inspired later events.

Long story short, he and I “hooked up”. The relationship could be classified as stormy, to say the least, filled with arguments, silent treatments, and lots and lots of love making. Everything was fine at first…we would walk hand in hand to the lake, telling each other our deepest darkest secrets. We would walk to the movies and grab deep dish on the way home and lay in bed together with our arms around each other making plans for the future. One of My Best Friends hated all of my gushing, complaining that I wasn’t seeing Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome for who he really was and that it was going to bite me in the ass eventually. And as you guessed, I got bit. And I’m talking about being bit HARD.

I was going through some things in my life that resulted in what appeared to be mild symptoms of depression. I was tired, irritable, slept too much for too long and would find myself only seeing the negative. But, that’s what happens when one of your parents is given a grave diagnosis. However, I noticed that when I needed him the most, Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome was nowhere to be found. He will be too busy “kicking it” with his friends on the other side of town. I needed someone to listen, to hold me, and to understand that as strong as I am that I occasionally felt sad and vulnerable. Apparently I was being selfish. Guess, I wasn’t being selfish all those times I lent him money, or would rent my Zip car to pick him up, or let him stay here when he had no where else to go….and of course here goes My Best Friend in my ear saying that I deserved better and that a man should be there during the good and the bad. Something I knew to be true but I was too busy making excuses to realize it.

After a year things got worse. Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome baby mama, oh did I forget to mention he has 4 kids?!?...Yeah 4, well I digress, but yeah the BM would call my phone religiously to tell me about all of the dirty little things they were doing and how she didn’t want him but since they have children together she wanted to make things work – girl has some serious pathology – but for all of the lies and foolishness she told me it finally happened. I go home for Christmas vacation and come home to find out that they’d slept together. Not only did he sleep with her but he slept with one of his supervisors as well. Let’s just say the relationship ended and I got a firm “I told you so” from one of My Best Friends.

Slightly miserable I call My Best Friend. Instead of being met judgmentally I was met with kindness, compassion and love. Almost instantaneously I realized that what I’d been looking for; a man that was kindhearted, loving, intelligent, hardworking, honest, respectful, and trustworthy and all those other lovely little adjectives we devise in our minds, was right under my nose. The man of my dreams just happens to be one of My Best Friends. So there he was. 6’3, mocha brown skin, a body made for cuddling and loves me for me and not for my resources.

Too bad it took me so long, and so many bad relationships to figure it out. I guess I needed Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome to help me realize that I deserve a man that’s willing to be there during the good and the bad, that will have my back, support my endeavors and encourage me to be the best possible version of myself. This whole time one of My Best Friends was the man I’d been looking for. The minute I got out of my own way, stopped looking, and allowed myself to see the forest through the trees, God gave me the one thing I needed most in a partner…he gave me a friend. Someone that will always have my best interests at heart and that would love me unconditionally no matter what. So now here we are, we’ve talked about it, prayed about it and he’ll be moving to the Windy City in a month. After my last attempt at love failed I thought that I would be single for the rest of my life. I’d given up at 24 and then there he was. The man that changed my perception on what true love is-- what a real man is, and what it means to be in real relationship. I’m in love with one of My Best Friends, and thank God he found me because my own search only turned up frogs and as cliché as it sounds, I finally have my Prince.

Now that’s a love story I can get down with. Amen to that.

-Princess