It’s not a typical love story. There’s no boy meets girl or girl meets girl or any further coupling that might match our commonly held romantic ideals. No. This was not that kind of love. This was something different. This was something so different that I rarely talked about it. Usually, when love comes, a girl can’t help giggling. At the mere mention of the beloved, she giggles. She blushes. She can’t stop smiling.

Now it is an addiction. I’m on a simple mission, to be stoked for life. It has become the top priority in my life. Anything that gets in the way of that mission is just a barrier. I won’t take a job that gets in the way, I won’t date a girl that gets in the way, and I won’t even think about living somewhere that doesn’t have an ocean nearby.

It is unfortunate that it wasn’t until adulthood that I found models for real, healthy, honest, kind love.

A common theme in all my relationships since childhood has been this: The men were emotionally unavailable and I did not love myself.

It is hard to say exactly what caused this to happen. But like all long term relationships, it takes work. I was clearly not putting in the effort. It was not until five years ago that I realized that I had hit rock bottom. And it was a trip which ultimately saved my love.

I am here, sitting silently, patiently waiting.

I have been here for a long time.
I met her when she was still living in Dijon, France.
She took me with her when she studied in England.
She took me with her when she got to do an internship in Spain.
She took me with her when she moved from Burgundy to Brittany, from Brittany to Paris, from Paris to yet this other country, Belgium.
I was still with her when she moved apartments once. Twice. Then for the third time. And again for the fourth time.
Yes, I have been around for a long time.

I had a solid job to look forward to, a decent paycheck to enjoy and a sense of complete and utter adventure awaiting me in a foreign country where I didn’t speak the language. That excitement and passion for the idea of something totally new, relatively steady and certain was so foreign to me. After all, I had been in up-and-down relationships and worked for startups for most of my professional career.

I wasn’t used to stability! It sounded attractive.

It wasn’t as attractive as I found this olive skinned beauty though.