The Classic Story

He was a player. She was the classic girl next door.

That's how most stories start. Right?! Of course. But sincerely, this is how it started. He never imagined he was the settling down type. All she saw in her future was a good home, a good family and a good job. So when they met, the relationship angle was a bit random to them. To him, she was going to be his biggest conquest yet. The world was a playing field and the prize had to be the biggest he could find.

She was one of those girls that attracted men just by being alive. She was ridiculously pretty, she was amazingly bright and she had one of those calm auras that seemed to put people around her instantly at ease. He was the adult who never quite took his A.D.D medication as a child. He was everywhere all the time doing everything. I guess you could say he was just a normal budding male youth.

So when they met, or at least when he finally told his boys he was going "to take that one down", she was not as receptive as he expected. That's the thing with these young boys. They have a cocky element that could be bottled and sold in a shop. To say he was aghast was to understate his state of mind. When she snubbed him that first time, he decided that this was a challenge he would not let up. The game had officially began. She decided she couldn't trust him as far as she could throw him. And trust me, she couldn't throw him very far.

So he started charming her in the only way he knew how. Ice creams and movies. Walking her home, sitting around aimlessly while she read, he even occasionally accompanied her to church. But slowly the game stopped being a game and for reasons he can still not explain, the game turned into a relationship. Sadly, they were still young and emotions were always fragile and flaring under the surface. So the highs were just as frequent and as intense as the lows. Way too intense. They fought as hard as they loved. Eventually and inevitably, the first break up happened. Blame it on his youth, blame it on his inability to express his emotions, blame it on his background and his boys, but he did not handle it very well and she walked away without looking back..................or so she thought.

A few months or years later they bumped into each other. They had both grown quite a bit since the fight and had somewhat moved on to other more stable people. But that didn't make the moment any less awkward. They exchanged pleasantries and sighed with relief when the encounter ended and they went on their merry ways. Somehow Karma disliked them enough to make their lives miserable. So suddenly they were in each others faces everywhere, all the time. They couldn't seem to get far away from each other. Soon they began talking like old friends. He missed her flat stomach. She missed someone who truly listened to her. No sooner than......they were back together. Her girls hated him, his boys couldn't care less. They did however acknowledge that he was good for her.

The more they broke up, the quicker they made up until soon they would break up in the morning and make up by lunch time. Her battery of men still called hoping she had walked away from the "punk" and occasionally he wondered what life was like on the other side. But all in all his mind always went back to her. No one will ever know whether it was because his house was always clean when she was around or that she never worried about transport when he was around. No one will ever know whether it was because of her great head massages when he was tired or his miraculous foot rubs after she had been standing around all day but somewhere in the course of things, he walked into a shop and ordered for a ring.

He proposed in this classic story like in any other. Down on his knees (I am tempted to say he grovelled for her hand in marriage but I shall refrain). At that moment like in many more after, he couldn't believe his luck when she said yes! She didn't expect it. God only knows why. They had been together long enough for it to go only one of two ways and he chose the one that would make her happiest. She told everyone immediately, he smiled like the cat who finally reached far enough into the bowl to catch the overfed gold fish.

Was it the classic Prince Charming story? Probably not. But it was their story. The story they would tell their grand kids and their great grand kids. Everyone would uuuu!and ahhh! and sigh. The small boys would snort in disgust and the little girls would dream in wonder.So as she looked for something blue and something old and he looked for something new and something shiny, they'd look back and think if they made it this far, they can make it to the ends of eternity.

This is my tribute to all y'all out there who are making this leap of unimagined faith into your futures. God bless your unions eternally!