Photo by Natalie Mancuso Photography
It's the story of two teenagers.
A chance meeting that lead to an unexpected spark.
One moment that seemed to lead their lives to that very night.
A kiss. A goodbye. A love story began.
It's our story. Mine and Canean's. I told you I would tell you one day.
We met when we were 18 at the beach in Florida. A Tennessee girl and a Louisiana boy who's paths crossed and changed both our lives forever.
I'm going to try and make a long story short. We wrote letters (remember those?) to each other over the next year, but we were both going to college and seemed like we were worlds apart. Letters became fewer and soon we lost touch.
Another year passed and I called him. Why? I have no idea, I was flipping through my phone and saw his name and thought...sure I'll see if he remembers me (heartbeat pounding the whole time.)
He did.
After many phone conversations, I knew I wanted to see him. I convinced my friend Katie to take a trip to Louisiana for New Year's to see what these feelings actually were. We were pretty crazy about each other and the trip ended too soon.
So soon in fact, he came to see me the next month in Georgia and met my whole family. He fell hard...I fell too...a little and then I got spooked and ran for the hills.
We didn't talk after that...and why would he talk to me? What a looney tune I was.
It wasn't until another couple of years passed when I was at work one day in Orlando (I lived there right after college) and an email popped up from HIM. I had to do a double take. No, it was him. I read it and he said I was on his mind and thought he would see what I had been up to.
That email led to about a gazillion others (to the point of obsession on my part.) I swear I checked my email like a crazy person, but he did too so it was okay. We finally started talking on the phone again and he was just the easiest person to talk to. Hours and hours on the phone until late at night that led to tired work days, but it was all worth it because for some reason I couldn't stop talking to him or wanting to. Yeah, the guy I shooed away...again what a cuckoo bird I was. Get a grip girl.
I finally did it. I asked him to come visit me in Orlando. He was a little reluctant...and why wouldn't he be? I was the crazy girl from Tennessee who couldn't make up her mind. But nevertheless, he came. He might have had intentions on breaking my heart this go around...but neither one of us had a chance the moment our eyes locked as he came down the escalator in the airport (I know...cheesy, but it's the truth.)
From there it was over for the both of us. We were together, in love. Yeah...IN LOVE! I couldn't believe it either. The problem was, I was in Florida, he was in Louisiana. We didn't care though. We would make it work. So we did long distance for 10 months. Both of us broke as could be rotating buying plane tickets once a month because we couldn't bear to go any longer without seeing each other.
After 10 months, I decided to move to Louisiana (my parents thought I was crazy and maybe I was.) Let me tell you never in my wildest dreams did I think I would live in Louisiana let alone marry someone from there. But God has a plan for your life before you know what it is. And Canean was part of my plan...and I was part of his.
I'm not going to tell you things were always hearts and flowers. We had our ups and downs and still do, but when it came down to it, we wanted each other more than whatever else gave us mountains to climb.
Two years after living in Louisiana, he proposed and a year later we were married. We will be married 6 years in May. And I couldn't have asked for a better life with a better man.
There is a point to me telling you all of this.
Distance. It seems to keep popping up in our relationship. Last year, before we left Louisiana, we had to be apart for 3 months. And as of two weeks ago, we have been experiencing our third long distance stent in our relationship. It's not something that we want, or think is a good idea, but right now it is the card that life has dealt. So we are dealing.
Luckily, it's not for too long. And for the mean time, I sure am missin' my buddy, my rock, my love, and my unexpected Cajun.
