Have I ever told you guys the story of these paper birds I keep hanging in our bedroom? Well, let me tell you.
To start with, I should mention that, in high school, I was given the nickname “Little Seagull”. Long story short - On our school trip to France, during our junior year, my exchange family didn’t exactly pack me the best lunches. So I spent an entire week picking at and eating everyone’s scraps. My friends dubbed me “Seagull”. It stuck. And I accepted it.
Flash forward a year later. It is our Senior year of high school, and Boo and I have been hanging out. A lot. One day, Just as the bell rang at the end of the day, Boo came up to me holding an origami paper bird. A seagull. I squealed, and asked if it could fly. So he threw it into the air, and….. it did not fly. I told him that was ok, that I loved it anyway. But he promised me he would find out a way to make it fly.
Now, flash forward another few weeks. I spent the evening at the drive in with a couple of my girlfriends. We saw both showings, so we didn’t get back to my house until well after midnight. As we approached my front door, there was sign that simply said “follow the arrows”. Inside the house, there were arrows taped to the floor. Through the kitchen, the hallway, and stopping right in front of my bedroom. I opened up the door, turned on the lights, and was shocked. There they were. The seagulls. Just like the one he had given to me before, but this time they covered my ceiling. And there was a fan in the corner, pointed up at them…. making them fly. Along with it, there was a note- asking me to be his girlfriend.
That’s how it began. Seven and a half years later, and I’ll always make sure some of those birds are hanging nearby.
P.S - for those of you that don’t know, those words in the headboard are the lyrics to Jack Johnson’s - Better Together. Which happens to be one of the first songs we danced to together back in hight school - in my driveway. And it also happens to be the song we danced to for our first dance at our wedding.