Travelling Over the Seas

I want to share a very special, very unique story with you, dear reader, in hopes that you walk away from whatever device you are reading from with a newfound hope and desire within yourself.

First, please allow me to introduce myself a bit; I'm Leah! Pronounced like "Leee-Uhh." I am happily 23-years-young and am a proud creator of a five-year-old little young-ling named Avah. She's really rad!

Avah and I got off to a rough start after her extremely early birth, and I ended up finding myself raising her on my own whilst in college after an absolutely gut-wrenching breakup between her father and I. We had been engaged, but while I was busy planning our wedding, he was busy having an affair with one of my immediate family members. (Ouch!)

So, after deciding to raise Avah alone and swearing off of guys for a full three years, I found myself longing for a family. This is where my faith played a HUGE part in things and I started praying almost daily for God to prepare me and Avah for a man that could fulfill the role of my husband as well as her father; I yearned for it! And still do.

Throughout this two years of continual prayer, I tested out the waters a bit but just wasn't feeling that "spark." (Guys still sucked to me at this point because of my past experience, btw.)

BUT ALAS.

I'm going to fast-forward to the cool part, now that you have a bit of a picture painted in your mind of my life prior to my journey to Asia.

It all started with a private message on Facebook.

*insert facepalm emoji here*

Yep, a simple "hey" from one of my childhood friends that I hadn't seen in years due to the fact that he had joined the military and was currently living in Korea! That's where it all began. Or re-began, really.

I had met him when I was about 11 years old at our grandparent's church. He was about 14 at the time, and I remember him staring at me with those piercing blue eyes like he could read into my soul! At 11, I was super weirded out by that...

But now that we've been dating for a little over one year, I long to see those baby blues that I haven't seen in six months since my trip overseas!

That's right, that weird guy I met in church 12 years ago has ended up being such a huge blessing to me and my Avah.

We talked for a bit through video chats while he finished up his tour in Korea, and then he came home for a two-week visit before going off to Japan for his next tour. During his two weeks of visiting, he actually officially asked me to be his girlfriend, and I reluctantly said yes, knowing he would be stationed in Okinawa, Japan for TWO YEARS! (Pure insanity, I know)

How was I, a single mother who is a full-time worker and college-kid, going to maintain a relationship with this amazing guy who was shipping out the next week for two whole years? I couldn't afford to fly across the entire world to visit with him, nor could I take that much time away from Avah, work, and my studies. How in the world were we gonna make this work? Neither of us were trying to rush into anything super serious, and me having a child was a huge factor to consider. All of this was just a mess.

But, regardless, we managed to make it work and are somehow still managing to do so. Call it fate or whatever, but whatever it is is beautiful and I'm obsessed.

I'm a hard-core nature junky with a passion for travelling. Apparently, I'm pretty decent with budgeting, too! Because, after my love was in Oki for six months, I found myself on a 20-hour flight to Tokyo, then another five hours to the island of Okinawa where I would be able to finally embrace my cute boyfriend again!

I backpacked around Tokyo and Okinawa for two weeks! Most of my time there was spent with Tyler, of course, but on days that he worked, I got to tour and explore all of the beauty that this little historical Japanese island had to offer, and it. was. AMAZING.

Please, please, please, dear reader, PLEASE explore the beauty around you! Regardless of what excuses you can come up with to not do so or reasons why you "can't", please for the love of God JUST DO IT.

If you love to travel, like I do, then reach out and take the opportunity to go out and do it. You won't regret it. I know that I don't, and I put a lot into this trip. I was able to get acquainted with myself, to explore the depths I never knew existed, and when I traveled back to America, I was completely recharged, renewed, refreshed.

I hope that my Millennial love-story inspires you;

This is a story of hope after destruction.

Let my story encourage you.

Love.

Leah Danni <3