#365grateful Post 74

Today’s little slice of “happitude” is...

New Girl.

To be honest, it’s so much more than just New Girl.

Sometimes in life, the most unexpected people change your life in the most unexpected ways. This was when I met one of those people.

Another Tinder lad. But this one is different.

I began chatting to John almost as soon as I started using Tinder and straight off the bat I had a good feeling about him; not necessarily that he was going to be my life-long love, but a good feeling nonetheless. He asked a lot of questions, made an effort to talk to me, and I really liked his sense of humour over text. I told him about my unfortunate incident with the previous Tinder chap (open book that I am) and immediately he called me out on my trusting nature. That was the first time that I got the feeling he was going to change things in my life.

We had planned to meet somewhere for lunch on the Sunday and on the Saturday afternoon when he called me out on my trusting nature and warned me about how that would just be setting me up to get hurt a lot I got a bit agitated with him because I didn’t feel that he knew me well enough to be calling me out on any of my traits or behaviour. I immediately told him I wanted to cancel our lunch plans at which point he protested which just agitated me even more and sent me into a full-on rant that would’ve sent any other man running in the opposite direction. But for some reason he stuck around and teased me about my overreaction instead. At one point I said something so stupid along the lines of, “Just leave me alone. I hate you”, to which he calmly replied, “You don’t hate me. You hate the fact that I’m not running away right now.”

Game changer much?

I calmed myself down and apologised for my immature reaction to his constructive criticism at which point he invited himself round to deliver some new series that would cheer me up for sure.

I didn’t know how to say no to him (and, if I’m honest, I didn’t want to say no to him) so he pitched up at my house in a navy blue Aca Joe tracksuit with the most dazzling smile I’d seen outside of a movie screen, and an external hard drive full of series that would make me smile.

He sat on my bedroom floor, leaning against my cupboard door and asked me to tell him stories about myself. He sat there, laughing at the tales of my “adventures”, thoroughly enjoying himself and genuinely interested in what I was saying. I looked at him and wondered why this down-to-earth, tracksuit clad attorney was here with me in my jeans and t-shirt when he could’ve been out and about with a hundred girls far more beautiful and “together” than I could ever have been at that moment. To this day I still can’t figure it out.

Right there, when he was sitting on my bedroom floor smiling that real smile at me; I felt a spark and connection that I couldn't recall having felt with anyone before. It seemed crazy to feel that with someone I quite literally only just met. And yet, there I was, feeling it.

That was the moment that I realised exactly what I wanted in a partner; it all just seemed to click together. It didn't have to be him. But at the very least, it had to be someone like him.

It frightened me that I was so decided all of a sudden because I hadn’t felt that sure about anything for the longest time.

So, I guess that’s what I was really grateful for. But the episodes of New Girl that he left on my laptop were pretty great too.

Spoiler alert: This isn't the last time you'll be hearing about John.

Image property of Candice Curtis