My boyfriend and I could probably not have grown up in more different places.
I spent most of my life in a rural Canadian town and he spent most of his in the capital of Belarus.
We are familiar with a different language, different culture, different climate, different continent, and many other things. But these are not important. On our first date I thought he was somehow reading my mind because when I asked what his favourite juice was (cranberry!) or ice cream (vanilla!) or what books he liked to read all of his favourite things were mine too. What language he learned to speak first or where he was born is not important. What is important is how he held my hand at the bus stop with the rain catching in the light of the street lamp.
I am a cynic at the best of times. A few months ago my boyfriend and I went to see David Suzuki’s Legacy Lecture. At the end of the lecture Dr. Suzuki made a statement about how we have always believed outer space to be empty. He said that there is actually an attraction between all bits of matter so the universe is actually full of love. I started weeping on my boyfriend’s shoulder because that’s how he makes me feel, like everything is full of love.
There will be people who try to tell you and I who and why we are allowed to love. There is no right or wrong reasons for loving someone and there is no “us” and “them.” There is only holding hands and vanilla ice cream and cranberry juice!
I love my boyfriend and he is my forever sweetheart!
P.S. I understand that Canadians are not actually eligible for this contest… Come on, Forever 21! Canadians like/need prizes, too! :)
P.P.S. I know what you’re thinking. “Look how much paper you used to make that banner, Mitzi! How wasteful you are!” Not so! My Ethnoecology professor encourages us to hand in essays and term papers on scrap paper. I assure you this banner will become a lovely term paper.
Thanks for your story