The Memory of Him

As I sit here telling my story, I can barely feel my face through my tear-stained cheeks and puffy eyes. My nose is stuffed up and I can't stop the sniffling. My heart yearns for this one guy that I need in my life.
It all started when we were young. At first it was only smiles and waves. Then it began to get into saying a few short sentences. Eventually it blossomed into hugging and holding hands. We saw eachother every day and usually only smiled our smiles that we saved especially for eachother. His smile lit up his whole face, with his blue eyes sparkling no matter how dark it was. His shaggy blond hair was always so soft. I loved that he was six feet tall so that I could look up to him when I was down. He was always happy to see me and that smile never left his face once. Neither did mine. I have no idea what it looked like, but hopefully it was beautiful to him. We stayed together throughout high school. Of course, we did the whole break up and get back together a few times, but that only made our relationship stronger. By the time we were in the middle of our senior year, he said, "I think we should be able to see other people." I had known this was coming, but I didn't think it'd be so soon.
As the tears began to slowly drizzle down my face, I asked, "Why? Don't you love me?" I couldn't believe he'd do this to me again! He had promised we'd be together always.
"Of course I love you, baby! How can I not? I just... Well I'm going to be leaving next fall for a couple years and I want you to be happy. I think it's best we stop seeing eachother as boyfriend and girlfriend until I get back, because I don't want you to... Well, I just want you to be able to live without me by your side."
I knew he would be leaving, but it wasn't for another eight months! Why would he be breaking up with me now? Slowly, I decided to agree so it wouldn't make things hard for him. "Okay," I said. "But I wish it wasn't so soon."
"I know, baby, I know," he replied as he pulled me to his chest. I didn't know how I could bear this pain of him not being there at all for the next two years, so I just held on.
"When does his flight come in?" I asked spasmatically. I knew I needed to calm down, but I had waited two whole years to see him again. I told him to stay the whole time after he had written once about ten months ago when he said he wanted to come home just to see me. I told him that I was doing alright, and I sent him a recent picture to show him the truth.
"It comes in about 45 minutes," my best friend Ashley said. "Hailey, you need to calm down, like, a lot!"
I couldn't calm down, I was too excited to finally see him! We had left for the airport an hour ago to pick him up, and we were just pulling into the parking lot. We had to find a spot first, and I almost jumped out of the car right then and there. I was filled with joy and happiness.
They had just announced that flight number 264 had come in and was ready to let people off. I jumped up and ran to the door, a huge smile on my face. "Where is he? Where is he?" I kept saying to myself. Finally, I saw him. He looked a bit different, but in a great way. His blond hair was shorter and he seemed a little bit taller than I remembered. But his smile, once again, lit up his face when he saw me. That sparkle in his eye was brighter than ever before. He seemed to have a surprise. I turned around to wave at Ashley to let her know I'd found him. When I turned around, he was standing there with his fist held out. My smile almost split my face apart, it was so big and tears were starting to pour down my face.
"What's wrong?" he asked in confusion.
"Nothing. I'm just so happy to finally see you again," I replied. I couldn't believe he was standing there in front of me. Then I remembered his held out fist. Slowly and gently, I opened his hand, palm facing up, and softly picked up a locket. Engraved on it was "For My One True Love." On the back, it said "I love you." It was silver and inside was a picture of him, and a little folded up piece of paper. "Be Mine?"
As soon as I read that, I stopped breathing and looked up at him. His eyes were slowly filling with tears of hope and joy.
"I don't care where you go or what you do or how long you are gone, but you should know that I have always been and always will be yours forever." He took me by the hand and led me to a place outside that was absolutely beautiful. The grass was green and it was surrounded with flowers of many different colors and the hum of bees. It was wonderful. We sat in the grass for a minute, just holding eachother and catching up. Soon, a feeling welled up in my heart. It was a feeling of peace, happiness, joy, and hope all in the same second.
Just at that moment, he got up and excused himself. He wasn't gone two minutes. He walked gently and softly into the circle of nature. "Stand up," he said. "I need to show you something." I stood up, confused as to why he needed me to do that.
His smile seemed to widen and widen, seemingly without end. He leisurly knelt down in front of me; on one knee. He took out a small white box and opened it. My jaw dropped when I saw him do this. He hadn't even been home two hours and he was already asking me!
"Will you marry me, Hailey?" he whispered, so quiet that only I could hear it, even though there was no one around.
I delicately took his face in my hands and gently pulled him up. He was only inches away. I didn't say a word. I led his face towards mine and kissed him tenderly for the first time. His fingers twisted into my waist-length blond hair and his other arm pulled me towards him. It grew into a passionate kiss. Something I had never experienced. I knew immediately that I would spend the rest of my life with this man. We were both 21 and in love. 1

Today we are 30 and have six children and another on the way. I never imagined him to be the one for me, at least not seriously. I'd daydreamed of the day, and wished it would happen. My life turned out like a fairytale and it was wonderful. Daniel is the one I have always loved and will always love. We are together forever.