“Some other girl and guy would love this swirling sky but there’s only you and I and we’ve got no shot.” –“A Lovely Night” from La La Land

Once upon a time, a young girl dreamed of her Prince Charming in shining armor to come and sweep her off her feet. But, fast-forward 14 years and she turns into a strong, independent woman who does not need a man to complete her. Long story short, I was done with guys. But what girl hasn’t been there. (Can I get an amen!?)

I had just gotten over a relationship, and I was not interested in starting something new. I just finished the run of my theatre program’s production of Oklahoma! and I recently found out that I was accepted into an acting apprenticeship in Massachusetts. I decided that my summer in Massachusetts would be my “new start.” I had never been away from my hometown for more than two weeks, and I was frustrated with my life and all of my friends. I wanted to start a new.

But then I met this guy.

Someone in my theatre program asked me if I wanted to go to dinner before a show we were planning to see and then subtly asked if his friend could tag along to “get to know some new people.” We went to dinner, and I immediately recognized “the friend.” One of my friends had had a slight crush on him, and I recalled teasing her when we passed him on campus a few weeks prior. At the end of the night, "the friend" asked if I would like to have lunch sometime that week. I said yes, but I didn't expect anything to come from it.

Come to find out, he had seen me in Oklahoma! and asked my friend to arrange the dinner so he could meet me. To my surprise, we hit it off immediately, and I could tell there was potential in our relationship. I was not about to let that happen. I immediately cut it off when I started to catch “the feels” because I was “starting a new” in less than two weeks. I promised myself no strings, no ties, no matter what. I told him that I “wanted to get to know him better” before we got serious. I thought I had ended things for good… but I accidentally left a window. He took it as a challenge.

Fast-forward to June 7th, less than a month into my apprenticeship. I received a letter in the mail from “my stalker” sending good wishes for my recent casting in Berkshire Theatre Group’s production of Beauty and the Beast. I wrote back once and then called it quits. Little to my knowledge, he was just warming up.

Fast-forward again to August 11th: preview night of Beauty and the Beast. After two months of being the "strong, independent woman" I am, I finally caved, and we had been sending texts back and forth for a couple of weeks. He had mentioned before the summer started that he had family in Boston and he told me that he was finally getting to visit them this week. The show started and then all of the sudden, he stopped texting me…. And then he replied during intermission. My heart sank. Dear God. He was in the theater. He flew to Pittsfield, Massachusetts to see my show. * I had an asthma attack.

It turns out that he bought the ticket back in May a few weeks after I told him I just wanted to be friends. I was not looking for anything, but we all know that the best things happen when we are least expecting them. I put the pen down and stopped writing our story, but he picked it back up and continued to write. Now, I am writing again to say that people need appreciation. They need appreciation for the moment they decided to take a chance and purchase a plane ticket. For the time they took you to a super-duper fancy grown-up restaurant for New Year's Eve to eat caviar and goose liver. For the time they took you to see to see La La Land for the third time and danced with you in an empty movie theater on a regular Tuesday night.

It is easy to take the ones that care about you the most for granted. Let them know you appreciate them and how they fought for you. Because when most of the world would turn a blind eye, they saw you for the crazy, indecisive person you are and still wanted to get to know better, whatever the cost. In the end, what is going to happen, will. You can kick and scream as much as you want, but you cannot travel far enough to outrun fate.

If you enjoyed this story, check out his perspective in the Odyssey article titled “The Week Boston Changed My Life.” If I am going to write this without his knowledge, I might as well give my inspiration a little credit.

*Side note: He did actually visit his cousin in Boston while he was in Massachusetts and also got to watch his real true love, Tom Brady, play football. He claims he came to Massachusetts to see me, but I am positive Tommy is the real star of this story.