the past couple years have been very enlightening to me. since graduating high
school a few years back, i have moved away from a life-long home, started the
road to my "career" and met the girl of my dreams. life is funny at times, i
remember when i first moved away just a few days after graduation. i was leaving
a set of friend whom i had known for 18 years nearly, and leaving my "first
love" back in my home town. college brought a large learning experience that
extended almost exclusively beyond the classroom. some of the best advice my
father ever gave me was to live my life for me, and to do things to the best of
my ability. i didn't do my best, and in turn failed three classes my first year
in college. on top of that, my older sister (my best friend) got married to a
guy nobody would have EVER picked for her. to put the icing on the cake, my
first love left me for another guy...all of which happened within a couple weeks
of each other. needless to say, life had finally caught up with me.
despite of all the bad things that happened during my first year of college, i
did however have some good experiences that came through the bad. i definitely
learned that this was for real, and that i had to try in the classroom. math was
always a difficult subject. in fact, it was one of the classes i failed my first
semester. despite failing the class, i did make a new and life-long friend named
Alyshia. meeting this girl was like a scene from a movie...there she was, all
beautiful and smart with all of her jealous friends gathered around noticing how
wonderful she was. Evan, my roommate at the time, and my best friend of 16 years
has always gotten the girls when it came to the two of us, but for some reason,
Alyshia noticed me instead. we became fast friends, and she was always a good
source of advice when my first love and i had trouble or a fight. as it turns
out, with each passing day of seeing her in class, and talking about life at
night, i found myself quickly falling for her while "in love" with my "high
school sweetheart." our nightly talks and "math tutoring" quickly turned into
hours of telling stories of our lives, and flirting oh-so discretely. when my
first love finally left me around christmas time that year, Alyshia was there to
give me advice, but at more of a distance than ever before. she had met a guy
there at school who swept her off her feet, and it seemed as though my chance
was gone. for a full year, i watched her give herself to him in any way she
thought would make him love her, but to no avail. he used her, taking everything
from her, never reciprocating even the least bit. looking back, if i was not
such a lanky individual, i would have probably tried to knock some sense into
his football player brain. eventually, i gave up, and figured i would never have
a chance to go on a date with Alyshia...the girl who had never ceased to amaze
me.
in september of 2008, i decided to visit the school Alyshia and i had attended
the previous year in hopes of running into her and some old friends. i found all
the friends i had hoped to see, and had a great time...but didn't get to see
alyshia. she was not "allowed" to keep up a friendship with any guy because of
her ongoing manipulative boyfriend. i gave her a call to try and just hear her
voice one last time, but only got an answering machine. after leaving the school
and returning home, i received a call a couple days later. i was overjoyed to
hear Alyshia's voice on the other end of the telephone. she and this guy had
finally broken up for good, and she wanted to hang out with me...i was ecstatic.
it was only a few days before we cut through all the "red tape" and finally went
on our first date. in mere minutes we were picking up where we had left off back
in december of the previous year. we caught up on each other's lives, and retold
some old stories we cherished from the previous year. one such was the first and
only time (until the date) that i took her for a ride in my YJ. it was a cold
november night, and i took her to McDonald's to cheer her up after getting
yelled at by her psycho boyfriend. we both laughed at how there was frozen water
in the cup-holder and no top or doors on the jeep for that frigid midnight
drive.
before long, we went on a second date, and finally became an item. i have
thanked the Lord each day since for the blessing of meeting her, and as lame as
some may think it is, i write her a love letter every day. we have spoken of how
much we love one another, and how we always wished we had been each other's
first loves...because we never would have gotten our hearts broken. not too long
ago, i asked her if she thought she could spend her life with a goofy looking
guy like me. she responded saying how she only wants a child if it will be a boy
who will look like me one day. as foolish as some may say (and maybe it is, but
we don't care) we have talked about how we cannot wait to get married in a
couple years, and she recollects the day she "knew" she wanted to marry me. i
asked her which day she decided she "knew" i was the one for her, and she claims
it to be the day i took her for her first ride in the jeep to McDonald's that
cold, windy night back in November of 2007.
i have never met a girl who EVER had so much to bring to the table in a
relationship/marriage, and i know that i will never forget her no matter what
may happen to us in the future. not a day goes by where i don't see once more
why i love her so much, and why she is such an amazing girl. who knew that this
beautiful, 5'5'' 100 pound girl with Suzie Q brown eyes would fall for a regular
old guy like me? she could have been the prom queen EASILY in high school, when
i was on the wrestling team, track team, and marching band..
I just wanted to rant, and tell the story of the girl i love...Alyshia Renee
Burris
