living.in.technicolor

This year, December 8th will mark my 3-year anniversary with my boyfriend. The story behind that date isn’t that we went on our first date or when we first decided that we were officially going out. Instead, it’s a small moment that I remember quite vividly.

My boyfriend (let’s call him B) had told me that he liked me earlier in the semester but I turned him down, unable to reciprocate his feelings. While I dated a bit during the next few months, B remained shy and alone. Our friendship deepened through our student club activities. Over time, I came to realize how much I liked him and how much I wanted to give him the happiness of his first relationship. I thought his good nature and awkwardly cute mannerisms made him fully deserving of someone.

We were walking across campus at Berkeley to his apartment to help make food for a potluck. It was very cold but the sky lacked the usual cloud cover and was crystal clear. Stars lit the sky with unusual brightness. Campus was quiet as people turned in for upcoming finals or to escape the cold.

As we came across the GPB area of campus, a shooting star flashed across the sky for a second, taking us by surprise. A white sliver flashing through in a deep, dark blue.

B had never seen a shooting star before. As I debated what it could have been (a meteor, a burning satellite), I remembered that you’re supposed to make a wish when you see one. Silently, I wished that we would end up together that night. We kept walking, staring at the sky and hoping that another would come.

Later that night, we did end up drunkenly kissing on someone else’s couch. It confused him as he thought I didn’t like him still so to clear the confusion, we went on a real date later on and started formally dating. Since then, we’ve always marked the 8th as our anniversary, the date that we acknowledged our feelings under the blessing of a dying light.

3 years later, we’ve been through a lot of tough times (long distance, doubts about our future) and yet, B has remained as dedicated to me as he ever has been. Some people might call us naive, especially since I was B’s first boyfriend and we’re young enough to date around. Still, I don’t think that should matter. There’s a comfortableness we share that I enjoy immensely, and a list of memories like December 8th that seems to keep growing.