Henry & I met in 2015 at a Popeye's in Zachary, La. He was reserved and what caught my attention the most about him was his smile. He never seemed to smile very big but it was that half smile that broke the ice between us. (lol) Our friendship wouldn't begin for another few weeks and once it did, we would spend so much time on the phone it was ridiculous. As our connection grew stronger, a few months later we became a couple...

Days turned into months and he soon became my safe haven and I became his secret keeper. What seemed incompatible to others proved to heaven sent......

Our first date was a little out of the norm but it was lovely to me. It was Henry, his brother Eddie, and I. Eddie had invited us to go to the new theater, Movie Tavern. SO we all get dressed (I had to pick out Henry's outfit, as always) and we headed out. The movie we were going to see wouldn't start for another hour or so; we went to Barnes & Nobles to kill time. Henry & I took our first picture together there. :) Fast forward to our movie going experience, it was wonderful! 4 years ago, I could never even imagine one day finding the words to express how I feel while typing out our memories. These a bunch simple stories, a series of small glimpses into our past and a forecast of our future. I'm grateful I can even remember the first time he smiled at me or held my hand...

-Asia

“You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.”
― Jonathan Safran Foer

Walking away from a previous relationship can cause us to place guards around ourself and our heart. We both were doing that when we first began and though it wasn't fair to each other to do, we wouldn't learn that until our first argument. I can't even remember the topic of the argument (whoever does?) but I remember the way we looked at each other and how it felt to not be in sync with one another. It was loud, it was dark, and it was ugly words being thrown back and forth BUT it passed like every great storm that we'd ever faced in our lives.

We don't like to linger on the bad times because it's so much easier to tell about how happy we are and of course everybody wants to hear about love and happiness, the only problem is we can't forget our hardships and our stumbles because without those this would be a perfect love story and there would be no triumph or battle to overcome. We got through it but not alone, it was God and us sitting in a room after that fight and though neither one of us spoke a word, I think we both had been reassured that this was fixable..

How do you recall every story for the last four years, type each one out for family and friends to read? I honestly can't and even summarizing the last four years of our lives spent together is impossible as it still wouldn't cover the tragedy, the triumph, the attempts, the failures, etc. Henry has grown into a wonderful, considerate man and I'm thankful to be able to grow with him as the woman God created me to be for him.