As we all know Valentine's Day is quickly approaching, that one day where everyone celebrates the meaning of love.
Now if your single, February 14th may just be a normal day to you, however, I believe this special day shouldn't just be about romance, it should also be celebrating the love you have for your family, friends; those people close to you.
And of course love should be celebrated everyday, not just one day a year.
I've never previously had a date or partner for Valentine's day, so now this day has a very important place in my heart! I never had any self confidence when it came to relationships or dating people.
I wanted to do a story time post tonight.
I like to keep my blog almost like a diary, for me to look back on when I'm older and read all the awesome memories that have been created.
Therefore, this is my story on how I met my partner of nearly two years, Daniel.
Me and Dan started talking on the ever romantic Facebook, I know! Its not the most romantic story to tell our grandchildren, however it does get more interesting, I promise.
To be honest I don't even know how me and Dan came across each other online, but once we got talking I had a good feeling about our friendship.
Me and Dan have both struggled with anxiety for many years, both in different ways but some ways very similar. We got talking about the topic of anxiety almost straight away, and again, I can't remember how or why. We both helped each other from then, onwards, with our struggles relating to anxiety, and this was before we even met.
We spoke for a good few months online before arranging to finally meet, for me, meeting someone new was one thing that set off my anxiety, due to it being social. I've had social anxiety for what feels like forever! I would never want to go to parties, sleepovers, school disco's; you name it, I just didn't like socialising, it scared me. This trait unfortunately stuck with me throughout primary school, high school and still to this day.
Dan turned from a stranger into my rock, he helped me on a daily basis, when I was having a bad day, I knew I'd have him to talk to and cheer me up, things were great!
I felt like the time was right to find my soul mate and strongly believed that if I met Dan, it could turn into something life changing, and my instinct's were right.
For some reason Dan was the first guy that I didn't get myself worked up about meeting, I felt as if I was meeting a friend I'd known for years. For the first time I felt fine about meeting someone new and it felt so good to not have a million worries going through my head, so I just went with the flow.
I met Dan one morning and we took the train to Preston for the day. We both loved to shop so it was only right we would spend our first date shopping. This date was incredible, there wasn't one awkward moment, we were both really chatty and just happy to finally be face to face. I knew from day one that this was the man I wanted to grow old with and still to this day feel the exact same way.
The day went by super fast and not for one minute did I feel awkward, it honestly was such a bizarre feeling as I never thought I could ever meet someone and have such confidence and excitement about it. After our date we took the train home and I went to Dan's house to meet his parents. I never usually rushed to 'meet the parents', however for some reason, I felt like it was necessary, it wasn't a big deal to me, and yet again, my nerves were non existent.
We finished the day off with a walk to the local nature park and literally sat for ages on a bench, eating junk food and chatting away. It didn't matter what we did, we didn't feel the need for a fancy dinner date, or to have to impress each other, we were just happy to be together.
Whilst we were sat down, Dan asked me to be his partner, as we had previously spoke about it before meeting, and of course I said yes! I was extremely happy that I'd found someone genuine and down to earth, a true gentlemen.
And that was just the beginning!
Two months into our relationship we discovered I was pregnant, it was not planned and very unexpected as I was on the pill at the time. I knew from the second the pregnancy test came back
positive that I was going to keep the baby, abortion wasn't an option. From then onwards, life has been amazing, I couldn't be happier with the life I have now, with my little family!
Me and Dan have always said that we were made for each other and I now truly believe that your life is planned out for you, things will happen when the time is right, whether you expect it or not!
And with all that being said, Happy Valentines Day!
I love you Daniel Bracey.
