Young Love that Lasts

The first time I ever talked to my boyfriend was on May 8, 2004. That day was the end-of-the-year campus meeting for Upward Bound. We had the meeting to eat lunch and give out awards and senior gifts. Naturally, I decided to sit with my two best friends, Alisha and Chealsy. Today, though, was different from most campus meetings. Alisha had brought along her brother, Phillip.

Throughout the day, we all talked and made jokes. Most of the time, however, I was watching Phillip. I thought he was kind of cute and he was definitely funny. At the end of the campus meeting, I was sad that I had to go home. Later that day, I called my friend Amy and told her what happened. She told me that I needed to tell Alisha before I even tried to go out with Phillip. I did not particularly like that advice so I never said anything to Alisha.

The next time that I saw Phillip was on the first day of the Upward Bound summer session. Alisha and Phillip came with their dad and their niece, Jade. Once we signed in and got our pictures taken and put our bags in our rooms, we went to the lounge to hang out. After seeing Phillip again and talking to him, I knew that I really did like him.

The next night, I decided to tell Alisha about my crush on him. When I did, her reply was, Do you want me to see if he likes you? I am sure that I had a shocked look on my face and I said, Yes! She called his room and started talking to him. After a few minutes, she casually asked if he liked anyone. He said that he did, but said it without thinking. She asked him who he liked and he said that he liked me! Then, Alisha asked, Really? He quickly said, No, and Alisha hung up on him. I was a little sad, but I realized that that did not mean that he hated me and that he had only known me for a few weeks. I had not given up hope.

Being the computer geek that I am, I took an online personality quiz called Make a Wish or something like that. It had blanks that said things like, Name a person of the opposite sex and Name a friend. I put things in all of the blanks and received my results. They said many things, but the one thing that I really liked was that they said that I would get together with Phillip within 14 days. I told all of my friends about it and we made a point to mention the countdown whenever we were around Phillip.

Sometime after the day that Alisha asked Phillip if he liked anyone, Phillip and I started talking on the phone for a couple hours each night. Every time that we talked, I mentioned the countdown of days. He always asked me what I was talking about and I simply replied that it was for him to figure out.

After a week of us talking on the phone, Phillip finally figured out what the countdown was. I had just jokingly said, Seven days, like the movie The Ring. To my surprise, he said, Do you want to go out with me? I could not believe what he had just said and I replied with a surprised, What? He asked if that was what the countdown was about and I said, Maybe. He asked me again whether I wanted to go out with him and I told him that if he wanted to ask me out, he should surprise me.

I expected him to wait a week or at least a couple of days before asking me out, but it came much sooner. The following day was a little bit sad because he had to go on a field trip and he would be gone all day long. I was waiting the time that he would return. He promised to buy me a souvenir so I was a little bit anxious to see what he got me. Around eight oclock he came back, extremely hyperactive and smiling. He tossed a red and silver key chain to me and said, You can only have it if you go out with me. Of course, I accepted the key chain and we officially started dating on June 15, 2004. I thought it would be one of the best nights of my life, but it turned out to be worse than I expected.

Phillip has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder, so he is typically hyperactive and inattentive when he does not take his medicine. On the night that he asked me out, he had taken his medicine, but he was still hyperactive because he had drank a very sugary and caffeinated drink. He was very hyperactive and it was annoying me. A little after he asked me out, we decided to go hang out with our friends in the basement. Once we got downstairs, he started acting goofy and letting out his hyperactive side that we like to call The Monkey. We call that stage The Monkey because he moves around a lot and acts like a monkey.

Because Phillip was so energetic that night, I was beginning to get annoyed. He was moving around a lot and talking loudly. Most of the things that he was doing were annoying me because I get annoyed very easily. At one point, I went to the bathroom with my friend Candis and I told her that I was thinking about breaking up with him. She looked at me as if I was crazy and just told me to wait it out. We left the bathroom and everything seemed to be going a lot better.

After that day, everything was fine. Phillip and I slowly went through the beginning stages of dating. We talked a lot, held hands, and hugged at the end of our dates. One thing that I could not understand was why he had not kissed me. I expressed my feelings to my friends and they started hinting to him to kiss me. Since Phillip does not take hints well, he did not kiss me. The first time he did kiss me was when we went to Olympiad at Indiana University. I was on the academic team and I was getting ready to compete. While I was competing, my friend Candis told Phillip that he should kiss me if we win. In the end, our team won the first place trophy and afterwards, Phillip kissed me on my cheek. It was very sweet. What I do not remember very well was our first serious kiss. From what he has told me, we were sitting outside of the dorm building and it was almost time for us to go inside. He stood up and kissed me then walked away. All that I remember is that I was shocked. I wish that I could remember more.

The next big milestone in our relationship was Christmas 2005. We decided that we would do something special for each other. We bought gifts for each other and set aside a special day to celebrate. We chose the first full day of Christmas break. The date was December 22, 2005. I had been anxiously waiting for that day because I knew that Phillip had gotten me something very special. He had wanted to keep it a secret, but it seemed as though everyone knew except me. Everyday someone else would tell me that I was going to like what Phillip got me for Christmas. I was annoyed that they all knew, but I was also excited because whatever he was giving me was going to be great.

After weeks waiting for our date, the day finally arrived. I woke up early and Phillip came over to eat breakfast. We exchange our gifts. I gave Phillip a scrapbook that I had made for him and he gave me a flash drive for my computer. We both liked each others gifts, but Phillip had a surprise for me that I would receive later. We sat around and watched television for about an hour, then got on a bus and headed for the West side of Evansville. We went to open gym at our church and played games for a couple of hours. When it was time to leave, Phillips sister Alisha took us to Garvin Park for the rest of our Christmas date. Once we got there, I realized that we were going on the Fantasy of Lights. Because Alisha left us there, I also realized that we were going on a carriage ride. I was very excited because I had never been on one and has always wanted to. We had one problem, though. We were there very early. We sat outside in the wind because there was nowhere to go. After about 20 minutes or so, we decided to walk to a little pizza shop down the street to warm up and eat something. We ate and played a card game called FLUX for a little while then decided to leave.

When we got there, we could not figure out where to go. After a few minutes of standing in the cold, I told Phillip to go ask someone. We asked someone in the ticket booth where we were supposed to go. They told us where to go and we walked to the carriage booth. The woman in the trailer came out and asked for our names so we could get on the list. We were third in line, but the horses were not there yet. When they did get there, Phillip told me to pick out the one that I liked the best. I saw one that I really liked and told Phillip. He told me that he hoped that we would get that one. The first two groups started their carriage ride and then they called our names. We walked to our carriage, the one that I liked the best, and I got in first. We covered up with a blanket and the carriage ride started. I had seen the Fantasy of Lights many times, but being in a carriage was so much different. When we were about halfway through the ride, Phillip reached over and grabbed my right hand. I did not think much of it because he always holds my hand. This time was different, though, because as he held my hand, I felt something slip onto my ring finger.

I looked down and it was one of the prettiest rings that I had ever seen. The only problem was that the ring was too big. It was probably a size too big. I did not care, though. After he slid the ring on, Phillip turned to look at me and said, "This is a promise ring. With this ring, I promise that we will get engaged when the time is right." I looked at him and told him that I loved him and gave him a kiss. For the rest of the carriage ride, I could not pay attention to the lights or anything else. I just looked at my ring and smiled.

After our carriage ride, he paid the driver and we walked through the parking lot. We called Phillip's dad and he came to pick us up. The next day, we went to Camelot Jewelers and resized my ring. It still does not fit perfectly, but I love it anyway.

Since the day of our Christmas date, we have discussed our future a lot. We plan on going to college together and getting married during or right after college. We still have not decided where we are going to go to college because Phillip is a junior and will not graduate until next year. Until then, I will stay in Evansville and go to the University of Evansville.