Love

This one's sure to be a page turner!

In September, my sister and I decided to move to Denver, Colorado. She came here to further her educational endeavors at The University of Denver while I tagged along for the sake of moving out of our parents' house. I completed my program's curriculum in May, didn't have a proper job to keep me in Dallas and, at the time, didn't have any real emotional ties to anyone. Except for one person.

Now that I think about it he was one of the only one of my college friends I spoke with on a regular basis. Our frequent communication started during our last semester at UTA when we would spend hours in the library sending funny pictures to each other through email because I didn't want his girlfriend at the time to see on Facebook how often we really did talk to each other. I didn't want her to see how much more he and I had in common than she with him. I didn't want anyone to see how much I liked him, really. Eventually he broke up with that girl and our friendship was free to blossom without any judgement or ridicule from her. And then it turned into something it should have been for a long time. A relationship.

Our summer fling started while I was taking chemistry at the local community college. We had just graduated from UTA. He was tirelessly looking for a full time job that incorporated his degree as I made a valiant effort to get into physical therapy school. We chatted every night about funny pictures on Reddit, cute animals and occasionally video games. If it was late enough, the conversation would turn to troublesome encounters with single ladies. First he would talk about going out, meeting up with old high school friends, realize they were a bit too desperate, and trying to find a way out. I always told him I would drive out to get him if he ever found himself in a sticky situation, even if he was 45min in downtown Ft. Worth. I let him know I'd always be there for him.

Then one night he expressed how lonely he felt.

His openness caught me off guard and then tugged on my heart strings. Without hesitation I told him to come over and hang out. It didn't matter that he lived 40min away or that it was close to midnight. I couldn't leave him like that. I cared about him too much. We drank beer and went swimming. We drank enough to finally admit that we'd been eyeing each other for a while. I had been single for almost a year and joked my only obstacle had been the rebound girlfriend he picked up for 6 months whereas he had no excuse not to have pursued me.

How does this elaborate tangent fit in with the fact that I had decided to move to Colorado? Even though I had already committed to the decision to move 700 miles away with my sister and he finally found a good paying job, we decided we were good for each other and figured out a rough plan to be together. After a few months of saving up money from his new job, he was going to move to Colorado and live with us. It was a good plan but unfortunately it fell through.

After one month away from each other we couldn't stand being apart. Video chatting every night wasn't enough and he was starting to hate his job and the people around him. He decided four weeks of paid training was enough to move himself to Colorado and get him through a couple of months until he found a new job. It was a big risk but most definitely worth it.

Now, almost three months after he moved in, he's got a good job that he enjoys and coworkers he can be friends with. I'm happy. He's happy. We're happy.