When I Tell You All of This

Prologue

Love. Life. Loss. Faith. I thought I had solid opinions on these. I was so freaking wrong.

Love. It seemed pretty straight forward. You find that "one" person you wanted to stick with for the rest of your life. Sure, there are hard times in any relationship, in any marriage, but no one tells you about the small things, mundaneness. The background boredom and ever constant, slow drain of dependence.

The romantics are the loudest spoken on the topic of soul mates. There's this one person, somewhere on this earth that fits you perfectly, and all you have to do is find them. Find one person. In 7 billion. And once you find them, nothing else matters. You need to lock them down, and all your problems are solved! Isn't that right?

There's another theory, although not so popular. It's not shouted about or spoken about much, as to not upset the romantics, or the naive belief systems of the young. It's definitely not romantic, but definitely more real.

There's no such thing as "the one". That one soulmate. You have options. They aren't exactly perfect for you. They're close, but it's not a perfect fit, like those elusive pair of skinny jeans or a pair of red souled shoes. It's something you have to work at, but nothing some optimism and a can do attitude won't help. Sure, for a time that person can make you believe in the first theory, in the romantics starry eyed truths. But what happens if one day, you're whole world is rocked a few degrees to the left? Not enough for you to capsize, but enough for things to fall over, and roll around. A missed opportunity presents itself to you in full technicolour, and you learn that it's not just the you part of the equation feeling this?

Well, this is the tale I'm going to weave for you.

Life, loss and faith - I haven't forgotten about them. Nor am I that naive to think that love has everything to do with it. That it's the be all and end all. Of course, it plays a starring role, but my whole moral basis wasn't rocked just because of a love story. Or in this case, multiple love stories.

For me to start this sordid tale, I'm going to have to take you back a few years.

Are you ready for this? I'm not so sure I am, but let's go on this wild ride together...