The Worst Year of my Life - Part Three

My relationship with Faith was over and not three months later my heart was broken again by a girl who had promised me nothing. As Thanksgiving approached, I decided it was time for me to take a trip. My worst year was ending and I thought that maybe there was a chance for me to shed some sort of light on the dark memories. Another close childhood friend of mine, Martin, had moved two years prior to a town three hours away. We were very close when he left and somehow managed to remain in touch for those two years.

“She ended things between us,” I said quietly, slowly turning the pencil between my fingers.

Martin sat quietly on the other end, listening intently to my story.

“What did Henry have to say about everything? It’s his sister after all.”

“I didn’t tell him. I don’t want to bring him between us. Besides, school is probably keeping him busy enough.”

“What are you going to do?” Martin asked.

“I’m going to come visit you before Thanksgiving. I’ll be off for a week from school. I can make the drive up and stay for almost a week. I can still make it back before the family arrives for the holidays.”

So, the plan was in motion. Martin awaited my arrival while I plotted something to turn my year into something incredible.

I mentioned there being four girls earlier in this story. Two of the girls never amounted to much, however, each played a vital role in destroying my self confidence and causing me to realize that I couldn’t grab a phone number from the first pretty face that I saw. When Harper pulled the plug on whatever messed up version of a relationship we had, I realized that it was time to move back in with my parents. There was no one to impress and the need to save money out-weighed the desire to live on my own. On top of that, my room where I stayed only brought back many sad memories of two girls who had greatly impacted my year. While studying in a coffee shop, just shortly before my trip to visit Martin, I saw a close friend of mine, this time, a female. She appeared to be having coffee with another friend of hers, Autumn. We were introduced, and I decided it was time to rebound, as best as I knew how. It only took one date for Autumn to shoot me down.

“You’re a really great guy,” she said. “But I think we should just be friends.”

I realized that I was grasping for straws. There was nothing here for me anymore and I had to make a change.

Martin greeted me with open arms when I arrived outside his house. As the days followed, I began to plot with Martin regarding my future.

“What if I move up here with you?” I casually asked one day.

“Really?”

I shrugged.

“There’s nothing left for me there anymore. I could start over. There are life opportunities, girls, friends, etc.”

Martin shrugged.

“It would be fun. If you talk to my parents, I’m sure that they would let you stay with us until you found a place for yourself and started some roots of your own.”

The plan was sudden, random, and exciting. The thought of leaving my hometown and moving three hours away was scary, however, I knew that I was never going to move on from Faith or Harper while I lived in the same town. When I returned home, I immediately began to plan. It was December 31st, 2015. I only had a couple hours until the end of the worst year of my life. I held a glass of ice water in one hand and my cellphone in the other. My parents had brought me along to a party with their friends. It was nice of them and I had enjoyed myself. I texted Emily, a girl I had met during my visit with Martin. She seemed interested and I looked forward to getting to know her more after the move. Don’t get too excited though. Emily was the fourth girl to turn me down that year. There’s not much of a story, so you aren’t missing out. She pulled the same line as the others.

At ten o’clock, just two hours before 2016 would arrive, we left the party. My parents had drunk a lot and needed me to drive them home. While I enjoyed watching them make fools of themselves, laughing and joking, I was ready to get back home too. I was mostly packed, having made an earlier trip with all my belongings to Martin’s house. It was starting to all sink in. I was officially leaving. All I had now was a suitcase in my parent’s house with the last few belongings and the memories I couldn’t leave behind. An hour before the new year, I sat in my bed. I didn’t have any friends and didn’t have anyone to reign in the new year with. I knew things would be different when I moved in with Martin. There was a life for me there that I didn’t know yet. I watched the minutes slowly change on my phone until the new year was almost thirty minutes out. Suddenly, I did something that I had never done before. I turned off the lights, silenced my phone, and pulled up the covers.

“Happy new year,” I whispered into the dark. “I hope 2016 is kinder to all of us.”

When the clock struck midnight and the world changed from 2015 to 2016, I slept soundly in my bed. It was the only new year that I had ever missed. But it was finally over. The worst year of my life had come and gone, and I now had a chance to change the next one that was to come.

That’s a pretty sad ending to a story. If I ended things here, many of you would be upset and wonder where the rest of the story was going. What happened when I moved away? Did I find the girl of my dreams? What about my endless pursuit of unhappiness? How did 2015 change me into who I am today? Lucky for you, a good writer gives his audience just enough to satisfy them but not too much so that they never come back. See, if I gave you all the answers, you may not need to read anymore. But if I leave it on a sad note, maybe you won’t read in future.

February 20th, 2016, I asked a girl, who I had met after my move, to be my girlfriend. We hadn’t known each other for too long, it just felt right. On July 20th, 2017, I asked that same girl to be my wife. It wasn’t much, but I knew she would change my world forever. On May 7th, 2018, I married the love of my life in a little white building owned by the apartment complex that I was living in.

On February 6th, 2016, I tested with the local sheriff’s office. In March of 2017, I received a call from the sheriff’s office regarding their interest in hiring me. On May 22nd, 2017, I was sworn in as a Deputy Sheriff with the local sheriff’s office.

And the story continues. Love hurts. Sometimes, love doesn’t work out the way you plan it. There are people in your life who shape you into the person that you are today. There are people who push you away only to push you into the arms of the right person. Does that mean that you are going to find the perfect woman after a tragic breakup? As you can see from my story, clearly not. But it’s not just baggage you have to bury. It’s memories, lessons, opportunities that you can always learn from. Faith taught me how to be bold, confident, and to speak for myself. Harper taught me that some people aren’t made for each other, no matter how much they mean to you. And my wife? Well, she teaches me things every day as we approach the end to our first year of marriage. Do I miss the days of the past? Absolutely. Do I miss 2015? Not even a little bit.