Reunited After 134 Days: Through My Eyes

I spent 134 days away from the man I love. One hundred and thirty four days. We were blessed with technology to Skype and iMessage each other regularly, but we all know that those do not satisfy like the real deal.

The day had finally arrived that I would be reunited with my boyfriend again. His plane would not be landing until 10:45 pm, so I had the whole day to wait in anticipation.

I found myself praying all day that Heavenly Father would protect him. The last thing I wanted was to find out that after all that waiting time, his plane had crashed or something. I know that is horrible, but that was going through my head.

Pacing every room in my house, flipping through channels, foot tapping – you name it and I was doing it. Time could not pass fast enough.

It was finally 9:00 pm and I decided it was time to try and look perfect. Staring furiously at those fly away hairs, and the two lashes that were clumped together, I realized that was the best I was going to get. I grabbed the keys to my dad’s van, and off I was to the Toronto Pearson Airport.

Scared, nervous, anxious – I felt every emotion under the sun. I turned on the radio and tried to sing my fears away, but those emotions still remained. Music has always been a therapy for me and for it not to work was HUGE.

I turned off the radio and drove in silence. I thought about all these hard times we endured during these long days and nights. I pondered all the solutions we came to when problems did arise.  The next thing I knew I was at the airport.

I parked the van and went into the departures area of Terminal 3.  My heart stopped when I saw that his flight had just landed. My body started to shake. I was so nervous. My eyes shifted vigorously trying to see if my boyfriend was walking through the doors, and disappointment arose each time when I realized it was not him.

Until I saw him.

I shouted and sprinted past everyone. They were all a blur anyway. My arms flew up and wrapped around his neck. My heart was beating faster than the Flash could run. Our hands running up and down each other to confirm this was no dream.

This was real.

During that moment, a thought crossed my mind. Was it all worth it? Was this what I wanted after all that time and effort?

I pulled back to look at him, as I tried to hide the tears that were sneaking out of my eyes.

All the hurt, all the drama, all the long nights of lost sleep, and all the minutes, hours, and days spent apart. All the times we really had to exercise patience and endure the most difficult times. The moments when we felt like giving up but held on. Was it all worth it or all in vain?

I looked at him and really saw him. After a tremendously long period away from the man I love, he was finally here. We had fought for this moment. We had won.

So to answer the question, yes. Absolutely! It was worth it.

I will never forget what I felt that day while embracing him in the airport.

I won so much more than a long distance battle that day.

- Shay