Through my school years, I never imagined falling in love. I wanted to stay single after watching my friends get mistreated by their boyfriends. In my junior year, just after turning 17, my best friend set me up with a stranger. I was lucky to even make it to the meeting because my parents were so strict. We met, and I was too nervous to speak. I wasn't excited, just nervous. Yet, I sensed something in him I liked—a feeling I couldn't understand, telling me he was the one.
After senior year ended, he left to join the Marines, and I had to go to Ohio. We decided to end our relationship, believing long distance wouldn't work. It was over. On my 20th birthday, a letter arrived from a Marine base with his name on it. It had taken him a long time to find me. From that day on, he promised never to let me go again.
Today, he is my husband, my best friend, and my hero. Even though he is deployed overseas, thousands of miles away, he has kept his promise. He has been overseas for eight months, and we communicate only by email and occasional weekend calls. Every day, I wake up with a smile, waiting for him to return home safely.