A Year Ago Today #3

On January 28, 2013, I attended another knitting club meeting at which I made no progress on whatever it is a person can make with 20 feet of yarn. I searched for plane tickets to California, dreaming about actually traveling there in the summer (I did!). I went to bible study, attended an info meeting, and probably ate fewer french fries than I would have liked. Today, I don't want to talk about cafeteria food or failed knitting projects, but something that has had a huge impact on the person I came to be within the past 365 days. A year ago today, I asked the cute boy in my German class to study with me.

Okay, so I didn't do anything "Rosa Parks Life-Changing," but the story that follows the moment I said, "I'm working on German homework if you want to join me," has brought new direction to my life as I discovered myself and fell in love for the first time. It sounds cheesy (and it probably is), but looking back, the sum of my life in the past year has been what it is because of that moment. You should read this because my story shows how one action -- one person -- can change your world.

Him and I were already talking in class at this point, but we barely acknowledged that we lived in the same dorm, so it was an awkward surprise for us to run into each other in the basement of our residence hall after class that day. He was looking to shave his head in a room with tile floor, and I was searching for a quiet spot to do homework. After he gave himself a haircut, he passed me again and I asked him to join me. I could tell he was nervous, but I was trying to figure out how to act around him too. From that day on, we started walking back to our dorm together from class and we'd study together once every week or so. Six days short of a month later, he taped his number to my door after I skipped class, saying to text him for the assignment. In March, we used every excuse we could to be with each other. On the 25th, I told him I liked him, and two days later he kissed me for the first time. We call April 4th the official day we started dating.

The first picture we ever took together :)

In the early months after we first studied together, my boring college life finally had some excitement. As I explained in a blog post before, I had close to no experience being with a boy who liked me back, so my time with him was fun, addicting, and always a surprise. We've been dating for close to 10 months now and I cannot imagine my life being the way it is now had it not been for him. All it took was for me to step outside of my comfort zone for a moment and invite a guy to study with me. This fact is so simple and seemingly uneventful that I can't help but laugh. Every single one of us has the opportunity to do something different. Whether it's inviting the shy girl at lunch to sit with you and your friends or submitting your work to a research celebration, the smallest choices you make can have a massive impact on the direction your life is going.

Do something spontaneous today. Reach out to someone new. That thing you've always wanted to try, but never thought you were good enough for? Stop doubting and start doing! You and I both know your excuses are easily countered.

Exactly a year after my journey with this boy began, his life is about to change drastically. He has enlisted in the Navy and ships for boot camp today. Except for letters, we can't contact each other for two months. After that, he goes to school for 18 months in a place that's five states away. It saddens me to the core knowing I won't get to be there as he experiences all these new things, but I'm so excited for where our lives will go in the next year. I know we'll break up someday because of how different our goals are, but I will be forever grateful for the friend I have in this boy. He is so incredible. I can't picture my life without him. To think it all started a year ago today...