Graduation is one of the wondrous events a student could ever experience. A celebration for the years of hard work they have gone through in the halls of the university. For four long years, every step I took in the hallways of Pharmacy has been nothing but a challenge.

I have walked through the arch of the university hoping that my years in college could be something worthwhile. However, it went the other way around. Reaching the end of another chapter in my life, I have lost more of myself through the years I spent thriving in the raging battle of excellence in Pharmacy.

Countless tears and sweat has been poured down as continuous breakdowns and failures were spread across the road on this dreadful journey of success.

But now that I have finally reached the end of my college life, I am glad to have been blessed with the sweetest and wonderful gift. A gift that is slowly piecing back the broken pieces of my old self that has been destroyed during my days in the university.

For years, I have longed for someone who understands me and accepts me for all my flaws and mishaps. Someone who would hold my hand when everything else seems to falter. I wanted to feel love. I want to feel the longing and admiration that one guy could feel towards me. I want to have one guy I could always turn into aside from my Dad.

But when years passed by and no guy came for me. I thought, "Am I asking too much?" Is my request really that hard that God couldn't grant it for me? For one girl to have that kind of a guy would mean the world to her.

And now, I just might finally do.

There's a saying that for women, it's hard to find a man who loves you more than your father does. But I think I just found someone who is nearly as great as how my father loves me.

He came to me on the night of my graduation day. At first, I thought he was just another flirtatious jerk looking for a fling. Yet, I was wrong. He was far from being a jerk.

He is my blessing.

He is a sweet funny guy who is willing to give me all the attention I need even when we were two poles apart. At the beginning, I really did not pay much attention to him thinking that he's too far away from me and things between us just might not work.

I wasn't really much of a fan of long distance.

But spending every day and night talking with him made me realize how great of a guy he is. He would lose sleep even after a tiring day at work just to ask me how my day goes or just to make me feel I was never alone even when he's miles away from me.

He made me feel special and told me that every single day. He appreciated every little thing I did. He makes me feel I'm pretty even when I am obviously not.

But most of all, he makes me happy.

I never knew I could be happy again until he came and showed me what it felt like. In the cold darkening days of mine, he made me feel warmth and comfort. He is my inspiration and motivation which I once thought was lost. He brought back the girl I lost in the midst of struggle in college and erased little by little the dark suicidal thoughts I created.

He knew of what of a person I once was. Scared of her past and damaged beyond repair. But he never judged me despite all that. He accepted my flaws and told me I am perfect. He let me be myself around him. No longer do I need to pretend to be someone I am not just to feel I belong.

He lets me be a part of his every day. He never let me feel alone. He also made sure I knew what he had gone through that day making sure I was never left out. He is an open book. He trusted me with his secrets just as I trust him with mine.

I now fully understand that distance could mean so little when someone means so much. He made me realize that when he decided to travel across the globe just to see me. No one had ever made such an effort that much for me.

I felt like I am the luckiest girl alive.

If I once questioned myself before, why is it taking so long for someone to come and treat me like I'm a rare piece of gem? I now understand why.

I've gone through years of envying other people's happy love story but all those years were worth it when I was blessed with the best guy there is. He is beyond my expectations.

I've only prayed for someone yet God gave me everyone in one.

He came at the end of a chapter but I'm beginning a new chapter with him as well. I could never thank God enough for blessing me with him, my sweetest and best graduation gift. 

July 8, 2018 | AEUO