Life's Little Lessons: Life Doesn't always turn out the way you planned

Photo From: Leasare

The Tale of Two Magical Nights:

I met him at orientation. That night, under the dimmed lights of the student union underground café, a friend of mine introduced me to him and I just knew I was gone. I tried to fight it anyway, tried to deny my feelings for him, because I knew it was way too soon. But I couldn't.

It started with strong physical attraction and mild interest because we both lived in Europe and in places that bordered each other and both spoke French. We started off talking in our group of friends about a bunch of random, socially incorrect topics, but once while he was talking, I made the gross mistake of looking him straight in the eyes . Those eyes, so stunningly green that the funky lighting in the room only emphasized their emerald-like beauty. They will probably remain forever etched in my mind that way. But I digress.

After talking for quite some time, we all decided to go for an hour long walk that took us to the loveliest park in Boston. Once at the park, he and I got to talking about what felt like everything under the sun. We sort of separated ourselves from the group and under the dark orange night sky, we compared life experiences and discovered our backgrounds were very much alike. Almost everything in our past from the size of our families and position in the family, to random grade school experiences, were shockingly similar. I was enthralled and we were so involved in our conversation that we didn't notice everyone giving us space until later. We caught up with them, and as we continued our walk around the romantically lit lake, it started to drizzle, and soon escalated to full blown shower. We continued walking together though and with the aid my female friends umbrella (which he held :) ) we got back to campus relatively unscathed.

I didn't see him for a week afterwards until we all met up for dinner. We talked some more and exchanged numbers then.

Then, one night we went for a walk by the Charles River along the Esplanade...

It was light cardigan weather and the sun had just set when I met him at the staircase leading to the path. He was standing at the top of staircase when I first saw his outline against the sky. We exchanged nervous smiles and started walking. Words cannot describe how beautiful a night it was. The stars were actually visible in the sky because of how clear the day had been. There was a light breeze blowing that rustled the leaves of the trees and caused ripples on the river, but that only added to the atmosphere. Our path was lit mostly by infrequent antique light poles and the odd bike rider. As it got colder we walked arm in arm down the path, past bikers and joggers, and couples too. After spending a lot of time talking about nothing in particular, we eventually stopped talking and instead proceeded in companionable silence. At some point, we discovered a stretch of land that protruded unusually far into the river and somehow created a small pond within the expanse of the river. After pondering the existence of such an otherworldly place in an actual city like Boston, while sitting together on a cute park bench facing the river and the city of Cambridge we decided to head back to my dorm.

As we approached my dorm, I noticed he seemed tense about something and I guessed what it was. I know I'd hoped that all our shared experiences meant that we had potential but that wasn't the case. I had been right, everything had happened too soon. But I also knew I couldn't have and wouldn't have done anything differently. After that, he started to pull away and I let him, because I had to. I trust that there is something better out there for me and if nothing else I got to experience a truly magical and enchanted night. I strongly believe that if things were meant to be, they will be, and that every cloud has a silver lining. Sometimes you can see the silver lining immediately, sometimes you can't, but I believe it's always there. And if you have faith that it's there, you can trust that even when life doesn't work out how you've planned, it will work out, usually much better than you could have ever foreseen.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. Do you believe that every cloud has a silver lining? Are there any situations in which a door shut but another opened for you? What made you wait to find the silver lining? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.