Tomorrow is a special day for me. It is my Mom’s birthday. But that is only part of it. The reason I am writing this is to celebrate the wonderful lady who has made me realize the potential I have inside me. Two years ago, whilst lying in bed on the night of the 1^st July, I picked up my phone and made a phone call that has changed my life. It must have been around 9 p.m. I called Tania and asked her to go out with me. The same way that any of us boarders, at the Grant House Hostel, used to do in Grade 7 or 8. Yes, I felt like a chump, (my biggest fear was that Tania would ask where we were going to) but I swallowed my pride and decided to have a restart with relationships and what better place to start than right at the beginning. Tania got what I was trying to say, and just to make sure that I was embarrassed enough asked me to repeat myself, and after I asked her a second time we both laughed at the childishness of it all. Tania said yes and I could barely contain my excitement. Life was not over; in fact just maybe it was only beginning.

That was the start of a relationship that has awakened who I am. That was the start of a journey of self-discovery and big dreams. It took me stepping out of my comfort zone and facing one of my early teenage fears of been rejected (by the girl you liked) to get myself going again. But it was far more than that; I was recreating everything I knew about relationships. I had given myself the chance to start all over, I had given myself the chance to leave behind the hurts, fears, jealousy and pride and take only the lessons that served me well. Two years ago I started with a clean slate and a few tricks up my sleeve determined to be the best version of myself and treat my brand new girlfriend like the princess I thought she would be. I look back at that night of the 1^st July 2013 and smile at myself and I still feel like the little Grade 8 in the phone booth at hostel. I feel alive, nervous and carry the feeling that I am either going to be standing on top of the world by the end of the call or wishing that the world would just sit on top of me and hide me forever.

Fast forward two years and I think I am doing a pretty good job of being the boyfriend I wanted to be. The time has flown by filled with some of the most amazing memories I treasure. Tania and I have travelled to places, made wonderful friends, shared intimate moments and become a solid, inseparable unit. Our lives have become interweaved and we share many common ideas about love, life and what it means to be a family.

During the past two years I have learnt to hold boundaries for myself, I have learnt to say No when things did not serve me, I have faced some of my fears, I have re-looked at who I am and where I am going. But more importantly I have learnt to love; I have learnt a new meaning to love and seen love manifest in a completely different way. I have experienced being loved, surrendered to love and been consumed by love. The thing that makes this love so tremendous is the way in which it continues to grow and expand at an exponential rate and draw Tania and I closer together every single day. In Tania I have found my best friend, my soul mate and lifelong companion. I often choose to spend time with Tania at the expense of other activities as I find that my time spent with Tania is far more rewarding.

This is not the love that one feels for a parent or child, that love is a virtually unbreakable bond woven into us from the time the life force enters the child. This love is wild, passionate, alive and makes your heart race and your hands sweat. This love makes you stand up and do what needs to be done. This love works both ways simultaneously and leaves both of us richer. This love is crAzy.

Tomorrow marks the first two years of a lifetime of love, adventure, abundance and special memories.

Tomorrow marks the first two years of a relationship that awoke a man who now strives to be the best version of himself as he expects to be nothing less for the lady he has at his side as she deserves only the very best of what I have to offer.