My Boyfriend At The Time: The Story
A couple of years ago, I came across my teenage secret diaries as I was going through some of my old stuff at my parents’ place. As I flipped through the pages, something struck me: it seemed like I was reading the same story over and over again.
“Oh, I’m so in love with Brad! He is so cute! I think he’s the one who’s going to give me my first kiss! I can’t wait!”
And then, literally not even two weeks later a new entry would read, “Oh my God!!! I saw Joel today! He was with his friend at the bus stop. When he saw me, he smiled and winked! I think he might have a crush on me! Woohoo!!! First kiss coming!!!”
I dropped the journal entries as I grew older, but the two-week cycles my 13-year-old self would go through had clearly turned to 2-year cycles my 30-year-old self just couldn’t seem to step out of.
So much so that one day when I told my friend that my boyfriend at the time was the man of my life she said “Oh please! You’ve been meeting the man of your life ever since I’ve known you!”
This was probably around 15 years and many men-of-my-life ago. I have since dropped that expression as I’m learning to be the WO-man of my life! No more waiting for someone else to make me feel whole, someone else to fill the void — in all fairness though, I did enjoy getting my “void” filled by some of those non-men-of-my-life! Wink wink!
As I look back and reminisce all those past relationships, I realise how each of them either taught me or brought me something without which I wouldn’t be who I am or where I am today.
This is why I have decided to honour them in this collection of short stories, a glimpse into the ways all my boyfriends-at-the-time changed my life forever.
