Une année de l'amour

A year ago today I went on a walk with five dogs and a tall, over-talkative, handsome boy/man named Andrew.  We met at noon at the top of my street and compared notes on school, work, and dogs coupled with a few awkward silences, all ending with an exciting exchange of phone numbers.  365 jours plus tard (jwers ploo tahrd: days later), and Andrew and I have engaged in countless conversations, fights, kisses, and one année de l'amour (ahn-ay duh l-moor: year of love).

It's never easy being in a relationship, especially a long distance one.  I swore to myself, in fact, that I wouldn't let myself be in a relationship when I went to la belle France (lah bell Frah-ns: beautiful France) because I thought the pain of having part of my heart in the States while I was trying to live a life 6,000 miles away would be too hard to handle.  Besides, I've always prided myself on being independent, and there's nothing more threatening to a girl who likes to be on her own than a man by her side.  But I fell hopelessly in love with this vegetarian boy who so innocently cheered on baseball teams, never forgot the importance of a goodnight phone call, and always let me win an argument.  So when the time came to say bon voyage (bon voy-aj: farewell) Andrew and I made a pact to make our relationship work, day-by-day.

Five months of our relationship have been spent à la distance (ah lah dees-tahns: long distance), and we've weathered our fair share of emotionally taxing relationship hurricanes, but Andrew has also been my constant companion on the phone, through emails, letters, and random surprise visits to help me through all the tough points this year that I couldn't have gone through alone.  Mon copin (moan ko-pan: my boyfriend) has taught me in the span of 12 short months how difficult but wonderfully freeing it can be to let someone into my life in a very real, honest way.  

Andrew has seen me at my best (when I was trying to impress him into second and third dates) and at my worst (too many times to count), and vice versa.  And tu sais quoi (too say qwa: you know what)?  Every time I see Andrew as his less-than-perfect self, I fall a little more in love with him.  So thank you Andrew for being you, for falling in love with a girl like me, and for sharing this year with me.  I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us!