Rachel has passed the reins of the Love Story Project over to us. She sent quite a few stories that are waiting to be published and we can’t wait to share them with you! Please subscribe, share a story, or suggest to a friend that they share their story. You are welcome to email your love story to fiveblondes (at) gmail.com anytime.

pic by laurenewalters

Look for the next love story to come your way on Monday. If you’ve submitted a story already, we have your contact information and will be in touch to confirm when your story will be published.

Now this doesn’t mean there has been a ring in discussion at all, but I’ll refer to a tweet I posted last week talking about not wanting to be engaged or to be married right now but just wanting to be wanted. This conversation satisfied that wish. And to hear the person you love more than you ever thought you were capable of loving another human being ever so nonchalantly tell you that you are the one? Amazing.

As I laid in bed last night beside him my mind kept coming back to a poem I had found when we were first falling in love.

The Masks of Love.

I come in from a walk
With you
And they ask me
If it is raining.

I didn’t notice
But I’ll have to give them
The right answer
Or they’ll think I’m crazy.

-Alden Nowland

In learning to be kind and gentle to my soul, I became my best friend. By following this idea and maturing in general, I find that I love myself more and more every day. I don’t mean that in an obnoxious, narcissistic way but rather in a happy, comfortable way. The parts of my body and personality that I used to find ugly and frustrating are now some of my favourite things about myself.

For example, my feet. I used to think they were too long (size 9.5),  too skinny and too bony. Also, I have bunions on the sides of my big toes. I would always wear socks, or try to hide my feet or somehow try to make them look smaller. Now? I think my feet are quirky and fun and absolutely perfect. My feet have helped me to win races, and they fit into beautiful shoes withot complaining too much. I love my feet.

Left, my feet. Right, Nat’s beautiful feet.

What is one thing that you absolutely love about your awesome self? Tell me in the comments. You can’t imagine how great it feels to write it down and share it with others. Be kind and gentle to your soul today!

In 2001, I was in my last year of high school. I went on a trip to Florida with my three best friends, I dated a very nice guy who I decided was too old for me (he was done college, I still had four years of university ahead of me.) I started becoming best friends with Michelle P, and we would be inseparable for the next five years. Together we made a new group of friends consisting of all guys and had lots of fun.

In 2002, I was terrified to be the first one of my sisters to move away for the first time, even though it was only an hour away. That fear went away fast, I adored residence life and it adored me. I fell in a very public case of unrequited love with a don in my residence who knew my name before I knew he existed. I did well in school, but it wasn’t my main focus. Michelle P  and I and spent the summer becoming bff’s with all the bouncers, bartenders, and djs at our favourite bar. I worked at two different golf courses and dated a boy who was no good for me all summer, but we’re still friends.

In 2003, I had a few choices of people to live with but I decided to go the no-drama route and live with a few nice girls, including Amanda was definitely my rock all through university. School was stressful, I worked with Amanda at Bulk Barn, and my friends from home came to visit me and go out to the bars almost every weekend.

In 2004, Katelyn and I took a trip out west to visit Erica, and spent a week snowboarding. I finished my second year of university and spent the summer organizing leadership camps and working at the only store in my small town, with lots of going out to bars in the mix. I lived at home for the first half of third year because I got into a study abroad program for the second half.

In 2005, I moved to South Africa for six months. It was the most amazing experience of my life because of all of the international students that I made friends with and the trips we took every weekend. Michelle P came to visit me and I dated a fun South African boy the whole time. I was sad to leave but I was very homesick so I was happy to come home. A bunch of friends including Leah and Katelyn surprised me at the airport in New York City. I spent the summer working at the family golf course then moved back to university and lived with a great group of friends from residence.

In 2006, I worked as a research assistant, spent weekends at the martini bar down the street, and felt like my life was missing something. When I learned that Leah was going away for the summer I decided to do the same. I worked at a resort hotel in the middle of the woods. I felt like I didn’t fit in at first then I met a boy (Kent!) who just adored me and spent every non working minute with him. I grew to really enjoy my job there and all of the people I met. Leaving at the end of the summer for my last semester of school broke my heart because he was still there, but he made a huge effort to visit me as much as possible and e-mail me multiple times a day.

In 2007, I couldn’t see my life without Kent and we decided to go on an adventure together. We moved to Vancouver and was great for four months, then it was very hard on me. Our relationship didn’t falter (any more than any relationship can falter when one member is very unhappy) and he was always there for me. Maybe I didn’t try hard enough, but I moved home and I was so afraid he would break up with me but he didn’t. Being home was just as hard for a while, until he moved back and I got a job at a credit union which I loved. Life felt good again.

In 2008, Kent and I moved in together to an apartment in a cute little town. He was the chef at a restaurant and I worked at the credit union. Things were very happy, and I kept myself busy with a brownie group, dance team, and yoga and pilates with my sisters twice a week. I got accepted into teacher’s college two hours away, and the week before I left Kent proposed to me in a hugely romantic gesture involving many moments from our first summer together. I said yes and I felt on top of the world. Leaving him for teacher’s college was hard but I was very busy and living with an old friend who quickly became a very close friend made it a billion times easier. I had my first placement in a grade 8 class and loved it.

In 2009, I went on a fabulous trip to Calgary to visit Leah and Tim with Kent and our friends Matt and Laura. I finished teacher’s college. I was a bridesmaid in Erica and Denis’ wedding, then Kent and I moved to Toronto. I got very excited about Katelyn’s and Laura’s pregnancy announcements. My two best friends, both named Michelle, got engaged to great guys and I was asked to be a bridesmaid in both weddings next year. The recession was in full swing and it took a stressful few weeks to get a job at a coffee shop. After lots of intense wedding planning, we got married and it was wonderful, as was our honeymoon in Hawaii. I didn’t get a teaching job right away like I wanted to, so I continued to work at the coffee shop much to my dismay. I tried not to let my hopes get shot down, but it was tough. My hopes and expectations for the next decade are very high, but if anything I’ve learned that I have so much, and that when things seem stressful they always pass.

The day before the wedding after getting things set up in the tent, I asked Kent if he liked the tent and he replied “it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” which basically summed it up for me too.

Neither of us thrive in big crowds so it was nice to have our time alone in the car (with our wonderful driver Dane of course!) and taking photos before being mauled by people and flashes. My best friend is having a tent wedding next summer and I’m really excited to be part of one from the outside (well sort of outside – I’m a bridesmaid so I’m sure I’ll help out lots.) There is a lot of stress involved with being the bride and groom when you are as anxiety prone as we are sometimes!

We were taking a chance on the weather, but exactly a year before the wedding before I was engaged I remember thinking “It’s been really nice out all week. I should get married on this week next year.” So we did and I was right – in a summer of nothing but rainy Saturdays, we got really, really, lucky. Four months later people are still telling me that. The farmer who owned the wheat field was even nice enough to keep the wheat up for the wedding. How nice is that?? It would not have been the same without it. I went back to the property the next morning and it was already being combined.