Friday, March 29, 2013

The Shortest, Sweetest Six Days Ever

While I was on my short hiatus from blogging, I was enjoying 6 symptom-minimal days spent with my boyfriend. This was actually the first time we had really been together, although we had (sort of) known each other for over 3 years. We met through Camp Odayin , a camp for children with heart disease.


I only had the privilege of attending Camp Odayin for 3 years, while he had gone for 6. We were both born with heart defects and we both have pacemakers. In fact, the majority of campers have congenital heart  defects, and many of them have either an implanted pacemaker or defibrillator.I think I speak for the majority of campers and staff when I say that Odayin is, simply put, the best place on the face of the planet. And no, we don't just sit around doing arts and crafts because we are heart kids - we go kayaking, horseback riding, swimming; we do archery, attack each other with water balloons, have a talent show and a dance, and basically participate in "normal" summer camp stuff, but in a medically supervised environment (2 pediatric cardiologists are on-call 24/7 and there is a nurse in each cabin). It's truly awesome.

Boyfriend and I actually hit it off about 6 months ago, when he contacted me through Facebook. Numbers were exchanged, many Skype dates were had, and the rest is history. We both share a love for "That 70's Show," stand-up comedy, Peanuts (the cartoon by Charles Schulz), extremely cheesy tourist traps (hence our date to Dinosaur Land), and helping others (among lots of other things we both enjoy).

For 6 short days, I felt almost "normal," and had very few symptoms. We went on a few adventures and really enjoyed being together. We made cookies, terrorized the Downtown area, verbally attacked (but kind of secretly liked) Dinosaur Land, held hands, watched lots of movies whilst curled up on the couch, were present at my brother's Arrow of Light ceremony to become a Boy Scout, explored the very sketchy woods behind my neighborhood, and played some pretty competitive rounds of Uno and Scrabble. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun! I'm already counting down until the next time we are together, which will be in late May.

He treats me so well, and I can honestly say I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I know, cheesy. But this man is truly amazing! My man-eating dog refrained from viciously attacking him, he got me a plane ticket for Valentine's Day to come see him, changed the batteries in the smoke detectors, and put gas in my mom's car. Seriously, this guy is wonderful. Conversely, he's the one who caught a Southern Belle, so I think we're equally lucky. ;)

Sydney 

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