"The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just have to the find the ones worth suffering for."

You know the guy that you met the summer before leaving for college, the guy you met over Thanksgiving or Christmas break, the one you met when you weren’t quite over your ex or the one you met right around the time your priorities were to focus on yourself, school or work? Yeah exactly, the right guy, at the wrong time.

The thing is, you don’t see it coming because you’re not looking for it and out of nowhere this incredible person walks right into your life and changes everything…and I mean, EVERYTHING. Having had rough ends to past relationships that completely changed who I am and made me question a lot of things dealing with trust and commitment, I knew starting college I was absolutely not going to get involved with a guy anytime soon. However, whether I was technically “ready” for it or not, the exact opposite happened about two months after I began college.

Sitting at home over fall break I was taking full advantage of full on just chillin’ and enjoying being home. Sitting aimlessly on my couch scrolling through Facebook I came across a new video of a guy, who went to high school a block or two from my house, playing piano. I had seen his videos for the past few years and always just watched them over and over and listened to them while I studied since I like to listen to instrumental music anyways and these were always songs I enjoyed, and not to mention, he was exceptionally talented. So, over Fall Break as I listened to the one he had recently posted, I thought to myself, “If this were me playing and people enjoyed and thought so highly of my talents as much as I did his, it would mean the world to me to hear that.” Normally I am not the type to just put myself out there, but this was different, I felt like I had to say something. So I clicked on his name and hit message and sent this guy whom I had never met a message that read something along these lines, “Sure you hear this constantly, but thought I'd say it anyways, your piano videos are absolutely incredible and make my day every single time I watch them! I hope West Point is amazing.” Not having a clue what was to come and not even being sure if I would get a response, I was just happy to know that he would sooner or later see it and hopefully at least smile and feel inspired to keep up with this remarkable talent of his. No more than ten minutes passed and he replied with a message of appreciation and even a compliment in return. We talked for a little and got each other’s numbers and within the first few days of talking I knew I had just gotten sucked, in the best way, into something that I could already tell had the potential to completely change my life. This is the moment I realized, life seriously can change in a matter of minutes or due to one random decision you decide to make so speak and act wisely.

We became closer and closer, learning more about each other and realizing how strange our meeting was, but how happy we were that this random urge to remind someone of their talents is what brought us together. For the following month until he would be home for Thanksgiving and we would meet for the first time, I discovered a huge appreciation for FaceTime. Best part about this was that once we finally met, we felt like we already knew each other so we felt comfortable, but the amount of excitement in meeting for the first time was one of the most exhilarating feelings I have ever experienced nonetheless. Myself being in Dallas and he being in New York, I knew this was something I needed to think seriously about before letting my emotions and feelings for him become too serious.

I am taking a risk with him that I wouldn't take with others. Whether it be realizing I am happier staying in more often and studying more and getting to talk and FaceTime him despite being first semester of Freshman year, or learning to accept that God puts people in our lives at the most random and hardest times and it is up to us to explore them, I quickly realized that neither of us had anything to lose, and it made things exciting and terrifying all at the same time. Thanksgiving break flew by and before I knew it, he was already headed back to New York. This meant another month apart and finals week and more stress. However, this month flew by too and he was back home for Christmas and this was going to be our chance to really figure out what we want to do. I can tell you one thing I have learned extremely well already, and that is how to completely live in the moment and appreciate every single second you have together.

I truly believe if you see something in someone, you owe it to yourself to explore that feeling. Think of it this way, you're not giving them a chance; you're giving yourself one. Try to make it work. I can't promise you that it will work out, but you really don't know until you try. He may actually turn out to be the one in the end. In that case, you will get to share your life with someone wonderful, someone you almost didn't give a chance.

With anything in life, don’t let your current circumstances or environment determine how you handle the situations that arise. Instead, learn to live your life the way you want to and not how people expect you to; and just because something is unexpected does not mean it isn’t meant to happen.

At the end of the day wouldn’t you rather say, "oops" than "what if?"