It was the beginning of our sophomore year of college, I had had a relationship end badly at the end of the previous year and was still hurting badly. My parents were – well themselves – and oblivious. The dropped me off 3 days before classes started, leaving me and my baggage on the curb in front of my dorm. I remember piling it all to the side, and getting in line to get my room key, taking the key from the girl behind the desk and thinking to myself “how am I going to get all of this upstairs myself” and then pretty much wondering why I bothered. About then I looked up and there he was. We’d known each other since the summer before, had been good friends throughout and he knew of my break up so had come up just to check and see if I needed help. Just seeing him there I was done, well and truly in love and loved, though neither of us realized it then.

Since then we’ve not spent any more time apart that was necessary – and most of those necessary times were when he was deployed as he’s been in the US Air Force for nearly 20 years now. I don’t know where my life would have gone if I hadn’t looked up and seen him, but it doesn’t much matter because he was.