But I came across this post today on a page I follow, Amy Weatherly (https://m.facebook.com/msamyweatherly/). She’s a “mom blogger” and she’s usually pretty funny and right on. I throw in the “usually” disclaimer because there are definitely some things I disagree with her on. But I thought this was spot on, important, and maybe even timely....
“I didn’t care.
He didn’t have any money, just school loans.
I didn’t care.
He was younger than I was, by quite a bit. Almost 4 years, to be exact.
I didn’t care.
He didn’t know how to dress. His Wranglers were about an inch shorter than they should have been.
I didn’t care.
His truck didn’t have any air conditioning. And it was 10,000 degrees the summer we started dating.
I didn’t care.
He couldn’t dance to save his life. (A fact which he still disputes to this day, but even his own mother agrees with me on this one.)
He had holes in his ostrich-skin boots.
He wasn’t splashy or flashy or fake. He wasn’t showy or phony. He didn’t have expensive taste. He wasn’t drawn to the finer things.
He didn’t talk much.
And when he did, he didn’t always say the right things. He didn’t take me on big, fancy dates. He preferred just casually hanging out around his tiny, messy apartment.
He loved to argue. He purposely pushed my buttons. He disagreed with me, he had to make meticulous plans for everything we did, he made me listen to talk radio for crying out loud.
He was so stubborn. He was so set in his ways. He couldn’t be convinced to do anything, to say anything, to believe anything he didn’t want to.
I didn’t care.
He wasn’t like anyone I’d ever dated before. He wasn’t anything like the guy my family envisioned I’d end up marrying. He wasn’t the life of the party or Mr. Center of Attention or King Charismatic. He was more like King “is it time to go yet?”
I didn’t care.
My engagement ring was small. My proposal was simple.
I didn’t care.
He was still in school. He didn’t know where he was going to live. He didn’t have a job.
I didn’t care.
I just loved him. I just wanted to be with him. I just wanted to live my life with him by my side, telling corny jokes and driving me crazy.
It was so simple.
He just made me laugh. He just made me smile. He just told me the truth. He just made everything so easy. He just took care of me. He just accepted me. He just looked at me and made the whole world right.
He just believed in me. He believed in my dreams, but that’s not all, he actually pushed me to make them become a reality. He actually pushed me to become the best possible version of myself.
He just let me know that he’d never leave. He just reminded me he was always on my side. He just told me he always had my back. And I just told him he always had my heart.
And that’s how I knew he was the one: I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anyone except him. I didn’t care about being anywhere except right where he was. I didn’t care about anything except sharing this life with him.
To every girl out there right now, desperate to find “the one,” anxious to know what it will feel like and look like and be like. To every girl out there ready to settle. To every girl out there right now, sitting in a crowded room hoping someone talks to her, swiping left, swiping right. To every girl out there doodling in her journal, drawing up her perfect man, filling her head with lofty expectations. To every girl out there dreading another single Valentine’s Day.
I can’t tell you who the right guy is for you. I can’t tell you what he looks like or what he does, or where you’ll find him, or if you’ll find him.
But I can tell you this: When and if you meet him, you’ll know. You’ll throw the list away. You’ll stop trying to make him measure up. You’ll laugh at how different he looks from the image of Prince Charming you created in your mind.
He won’t be perfect. Your life won’t be perfect. Your love won’t be perfect, but I promise, you won’t care.
I love this story. I pretty much could have written it about Michael and me, with a few minor changes. And I actually do not advocate throwing the entire list out but I definitely think that when you’re young, you might put some superficial, non-essentials on there that SHOULD get tossed aside and will, when the right one comes along.
Michael and I were (and still are) opposites in so many ways from the kinds of music we like (and don’t) to personality types to vacation preferences to thoughts on many different things. But we’re so similar in the ways that matter...of one mind. And I KNEW. He’s always been the one. It was true then, it’s true now. And when the right one comes along, you’ll know it, too. ❤️
