Shortly after the New Year began, I started dating a veteran. He's a former Senior Airman with a sense of humor darker than the coffee he drinks like it's his religion. His name is Kevin.
It has been confusing and frustrating on those occasions when we're still working out how to best communicate with each other: He's more the logical type and I'm the emotional one. It has also been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, filled with growth and lessons learned.
When I started dating him, I was an introvert and painfully shy - It's a wonder that I didn't stammer or stutter more than I did when we first met in the SciFi and Fantasy section of Barnes and Noble. Being an introvert himself, he understood and was okay with carrying the majority of the lengthy phone conversations; he would tell me just about anything that came to mind. The thing about veterans is that they expect you to grow with them. Before long, Kevin would ask me if I had some friends who would want to hang out or nudge me to talk to new people in class. It ultimately led me to reconnect with some old high school friends who I'd neglected to stay in touch with since the beginning of my college tenure.
Kevin also taught me what it means to truly support someone. He doesn't necessarily agree with my decisions to pursue design and writing as a career (mostly because he has a scientific mind and is pursuing a meteorology degree), but he has been mostly supportive and is encouraging me to get a Master's degree. It goes both ways too. Our dates are often spent working on our separate homework assignments, talking about the things we face as college students or just getting a good, uninterrupted nap in. We're definitely not the most interesting couple, but I know that I'll always have his back.
That being said, he's definitely taught me that it's okay to let my guard down. He is one of the only people that can drive a car without me freaking out in the passenger seat too horribly often. We both poke a little fun at some of my reactions. I've told him things about myself that I had defaulted to lying about with most other people. It felt, and still feels, very nice to have someone who knows all of my darkest secrets.
Lastly, I've been learning that there are some things I just can't possibly understand about him. After my first breakup, I used to have a bad habit of trying to fix people in the hopes that it would fix me too. It never worked. Being with him has finally taught me that love isn't taking on a project, it's accepting someone as they are and helping them to grow in their own time. I think that's the most important thing of all.
