have kindly sponsored
When I applied for a Masters degree at the University of London falling in love was so far from my mind. It seems crazy now but even as I was obviously falling for Gareth, I pretended not to. Perhaps just I'm stating the obvious, but Gareth is Welsh and Im American. It was very clear that sooner or later we would have to part ways. But I managed to stay on past my degree and well past what my visa allowed, an entire year actually. Eventually though, like all visas I could only push mine so far. Two years after I entered the country I had to go home.
Now its a year since I left and we've been living apart, me in Detroit and him in London. About a month ago Gareth was making yet another trek to my hometown when I got a phone call from him from JFK airport. He said he wasn't listed on his connecting flight. I tried to calm him down but he'd have none of it. I will be on a plane today, he said and then abruptly hung up. A half an hour later he called me from a plane. He had bought an entirely new ticket on a different flight.
Gareth walked off the plane and before he even said, 'hello,' he took me by the shoulders. 'Stacie,' he said, 'I want to marry you.' He told me to take the week to think about it and proceeded at length to state his case.
Needless to say, I didn't make it through the whole of his speech(which he had continued while I remained stunned and speechless the entire walk down the airport console), let alone a week, before I answered. I think now how I could have tormented him and held out. Another opportunity lost due to girl-turned-sap.
To be honest, staying together over the last year was a lot easier than most people would imagine. Easy is probably the wrong word. But for myself, that we stayed together seems the logical conclusion, as opposed to an amazing feat. It doesnt touch on the most incredible thing, what I still find so unbelievable. When I was growing up, half way around the world, the man I would eventually share my life with was making decisions, just as I was, that would eventually result in my sitting down next to him in class. When you think about how unlikely it is that we would have ended up together, him from a small Welsh village and me from the Motor City, all the rest seems easy.