In honor of Thanksgiving, I thought I would share mine & Heath's story. It's what I am most thankful for right now. It's also my favorite story, but I am a bit biased..
Heath and I met 12 years ago through a mutual friend. We hit it off and became best friends instantly. The kicker is that throughout the whole time we were best friends, I never felt anything for him. No feelings and no sexual attraction. As I sit here thinking about my life with him now I wonder, how can you not be attracted to someone for over a decade and suddenly feel something for them?? This puzzles me to this day.
Our friendship was nothing short of amazing. We could talk for hours, told each other our relationship problems, got drunk together and partied way too hard. I confided in him with my boy problems and he confided in me with his girl problems. I met girls he was seeing and he met guys I was seeing. We spent a lot of time together. Of course things happen, things change and we drifted apart. I was in relationships, moved, etc. and he got married and had a kid. We didn't speak for a while because certain people weren't too keen on the idea. They thought we were way too close. We were both a threat to others, though we never saw it as such.
Fast forward to now. He reached out to me and I decided I'd go hang out with him because I really missed him and the friendship we had with each other. Little did I know what would come of those few visits. After us hanging out the second time, I started feeling things towards him that were way out of normalcy for me. I denied it, told myself I had just been single too long, and also thought I was losing my mind. I decided that I would say nothing to him about how I felt. I didn't want to ruin our friendship, so I would just take some time and see how/if he responded. Then to my relief, he confessed his feelings for me on our next visit, which to my shock had been there the whole time we'd been friends. I had no clue. He never said anything about it and honestly, that's what I respect so much about him. Even though he cared for me as more than a friend, he never pressured me or made me feel guilty for dating other people. He was just.. my friend. A friend that I desperately needed at that time.
Since then we have become intimate, moved in together, and started building a life together. Honestly, I've never felt more loved or more safe. I know when he tells me something, that he's telling me the truth. I know that when we aren't together, he's being faithful. I know that if I am wrong or being a bitch, he's going to let me know it. The fact that we were best friends for so long has given us such an amazing foundation. We trust each other, we respect each other, and we know how to have fun with each other. It is the best relationship I could ever ask for. Is he who I thought I would end up with? Absolutely not. The fact that he was right under my nose all these years is not lost on me, but we both know that things had to happen the way they did for a reason. Even though we are such a great couple now, I don't think we would have been then. We both needed to grow in certain areas. Our relationship is really easy because we have grown into better versions of ourselves and we have the advantage of friendship. As always.. timing is EVERYTHING.
As I mentioned before, this whole thing still baffles me. I am constantly amazed at how things always work out the way they should. If you would have told me that Heath was the man I'd end up with, I would have laughed right in your face. Though, if you ask certain people in our lives.. they'd tell you that they saw this coming from a mile away. Let's just say there were a lot of "I told you so's", "FINALLY!", and "I KNEW IT!" from our friends.
So needless to say, I am very thankful for how things have worked out. I couldn't imagine a more loving and fun relationship to be in. My life is so different than what I thought it would be. I was actually planning on moving out of state in January, but now I am here and living my best life with my best friend.
That's OK with me :-)
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