I remember the first time I met Gavin. We met through my best friend Nicole who went to University with him for 4 years in Ottawa, Ontario. Gavin is not from Toronto but was living with his father at the time who was placed here for work. Nicole would always tell stories of her friends in Ottawa and their adventures they had. I had always known of Gavin before even meeting him.
On several occasions, Nicole would tell me how we would be the perfect match for each other. We had met at parties on occasion in the past but were never properly introduced. 3 years ago, on Gavin’s 25th birthday, Nicole invited me to tag along with her as her plus one. It was at this party that it just clicked for us. Gavin and I were talking, laughing, hanging out, and playing games. About a week after the party, Gavin finally had the guts to ask me out. We’ve been inseparable ever since.
Being in a relationship is amazing but there are without a doubt going to be bumps along the road. There are three things I am going to share with you that Gavin and I have learned which has helped us get through those bumps along the road and keep our relationship happy and healthy.
Laughter
Laughter truly is the best medicine. The number one thing I have loved about Gavin since day one is his humour. But if you ever mention this to him I will never hear the end of it. We have this ongoing competition on who is the funniest. Low key I’m winning 😉. In all serious though, Gavin always knows how to make me laugh. Whenever I am feeling down or frustrated about something he will try and crack a joke or do something funny to try and get me out of my funk. I’ll admit it, it works 99.9% of the time and more often than not I’ll forget what was bugging me in the first place. More than 50% of our conversations are of us laughing and joking around with each other. I think that this is so important when it comes to developing and maintaining a healthy relationship.
Communication
One thing that I have learned that is really important in a relationship is communication. Communication is very important! It is there to set boundaries, express your love, fix problems, and express your needs. Communication is basically everything. So if you’re with someone you can’t communicate with, or don’t communicate well with, start looking for ways to improve it! No amount of love will give you a happy, healthy relationship without proper communication. Gavin and I are open and honest about everything in our relationship which has made it so much easier to talk about things and work through our problems.
Patience & Understanding
I feel like this point should have “cooperation” in the heading as well. Patience, understanding, and cooperation. This is probably the hardest one to get through for most people. Not a lot of people have patience. It’s hard to understand someone else’s point of view, and cooperating when you want everything to go your way can be difficult. One thing to note is that when you’re in a relationship with someone else, you need to consider the other person’s feelings, emotions, and needs as well. Gavin is really good in this category. He is a man of a lot of patience and a lot of understanding. If any of you know me personally, you would probably agree with that statement. He is always considerate of my feelings and patient with it at all times. I, however, do not have a lot of patience for things! It is definitely an area of personal growth for me.
No relationship is perfect but I thought I would share this post with you all who are in a relationship or looking to be in a relationship with someone one day. I am so glad to have spent the last three years with Gavin by my side and I am looking forward to every year after ❤️.
