Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The Start of Something Huge
My arms are covered in pinch marks. I keep expecting to wake up from this dream I've entered, but it's been ten days now and there are no signs that this is anything but real. All the shit I've been through these past six months has been a prelude, a trial I had to suffer in order to be given this fantastic reward. In hindsight, it all has meaning and purpose now. You can't climb a mountain unless you start in a valley, after all.Allow me to explain.
On May 26th, I began a Gateway to Work program. It's a government-funded heap of bullcrap that you have to attend once you've been out of work for six months. I was ashamed to blog about it, because it represented a new low. That first morning, sitting small, nervous, and totally overdressed in that classroom, I noticed the people that had arrived before me. Amongst the typical assortment of Salford scallies, one guy stood out. He had his head buried in 'The Subtle Knife', one of my favourite books, and with his shades and lip piercing, I immediately pegged him as an instant ally.
Introductions were made. I soon marked myself as a complete outsider - ridiculously overqualified, with hopes of becoming a music teacher. My soon-to-be friend was named Will, and although he had been working in security, he wanted a career in music. I had to talk to this guy.
Our first conversation, during our first cigarette break, was about cats. I'd been talking about Plum inside, and he told me about his cat giving birth out of the blue some years ago. The more we talked, the more we found we had in common. When the subject of Warcraft was inevitably brought up, he told me about his love of dice-based roleplaying games and Warhammer. We talked endlessly about music and each other's work. When things became tedious over the course of the fortnight, we kept each other sane. On days when he didn't come in, I was sad.
When the course ended at midday on June 5th, we went out for one last cigarette and one last dig at our tutor (as clueless ginger twats go, he was rather epic). Will invited me to his brother's for a game of poker, which naturally I couldn't refuse. We met his brother Spider on his way to the precinct, and Spider's greeting - "you must be Jo!" - confirmed what I'd been secretly hoping: Will had told his friends about me.
Going back to Spider's was a lot like following the white rabbit down the rabbit hole. I found myself surrounded by a colourful group of new friends in a tiny little flat at the other end of the Crescent from mine, whooping ass at Texas Hold 'Em and having an absolute blast. I should have felt like a complete stranger, but instead it felt like a homecoming. When Will walked me home at stupid o'clock the next morning, with an invitation to play Call of Cthulu at his place the next day, my head was reeling from all the laughing I'd done, and my amazement that I seemed to have slotted myself into place with a group of new people, like the missing piece of a jigsaw.
One crazy mission to Eccles later, having widely impressed with a few of my songs and kicking ass in my first session of Cthulu, Will and I stayed up all night talking. (Just talking, you dirty horndogs, nothing else!) We confessed that we liked each other, and by sunrise we were officially a couple. Yay!
Friends, I take great pride in telling you that I am in love with one of the finest men I have ever met. Will is a true gentleman, as kind and courteous and chivalrous as I could have ever imagined. He's intelligent, sharp-witted and fiercely protective over the people he loves. He's a Leo, a pagan, and a brilliant songwriter. His sense of humour is caustic and tangential, and I have laughed more in ten days with him than I have in ten months before meeting him. He calls me his princess, and he is my prince. I feel as though I have known him forever, and that we've just been waiting for life to draw us together. In the few aspects of each other's personalities where we're not similar, we complement each other perfectly.
But what's amazed me is the circumstances that brought us together in the first place. If I hadn't forced out of that stupid call centre, I wouldn't have been unemployed so long, and I'd have never been on that course. If Ben hadn't been such a dick to me, I wouldn't have even looked at another man, let alone wanted to speak to one. If I hadn't been so miserable, I wouldn't have been able to appreciate this love for what it is. Will doesn't make me feel useless or second best. Instead, he's someone that I can make proud, someone to motivate and encourage me, someone to come home to and feel instantly gratified for everything I do.
I'm in love!
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nerdy twenty-something.
Northern blood. Southern accent.
