Let's hope for the best

Chapter 33: Moving forward

It was, finally, our last year of internship: Theo and I had been together roughly 10 years, by then.

Life was going on: a lot of work, more than anything. Occasional catch-ups with our siblings, who were now fully grown-ups as well.

My sister had found a job in the same city where Theo and I lived, and rented an apartment not far from ours.

My brother, instead, was working in our hometown, and settling down with his girlfriend.

My youngest was almost a teen-ager by then; embarrassed when I went to pick him up, he didn't want to be hugged and kissed anymore. He was growing so fast, I thought he was soon going to be taller than me.

Daniel had moved out of his parents' house again, and found a new job. He had never fully recovered from the breakup with Lisa, but at least, some aspects of his life were moving forward.

Emma, Theo's youngest sister, was carrying on with her studies, and she was an incredible student- just like Theo had been.

Life was moving forward:

little Sophie was starting to crawl around the house, and tried to eat everything that she came across, and Jasmine couldn't take her eyes off her.

In the meanwhile, I had turned 30.

Jasmine jokingly said that after 30, we were going to count the years backwards: we were going to be 29 the following year.

I laughed; truth to be told, I had no interest in going backwards: I was so enthusiastic for what lied ahead. Sometimes, I found it hard to believe my luck.

I was in good health. I had good friends, a pretty home. My dream job. I was financially independent. I was going to start a family with the love of my life. All of my siblings were doing fine.

If only 18-year-old me could see me now!

She wouldn't believe her eyes.

...

Unfortunately though, my first try to get off the hormonal pill I had been taking for the previous 8 years, didn't go as smoothly as planned.

I had never-ending bleedings. I was getting anaemic again.

My gyno said I should be admitted to hospital for an iron infusion, but I thanked, and declined.

I didn't want to be in hospital- as a patient. Not if I could avoid it.

The good news was that I didn't need more surgery: my body just needed to settle down into producing his own hormones again.

And in fact, after a couple of months, the bleeding finally stopped.

Everything was just falling into place... once again.

....

And in the meanwhile, we were going in and out of new Covid waves.

As soon as we were out of a variant, there was the next one.

I had Covid twice, and I lost count of how many tests I had done.

After a while, I thought they were going to give us a loyalty card: after 10 nasal swabs, you get a free vaccine booster.

And a pizza, maybe.

...

But then, that didn't stop me from getting creative with my wedding Pinterest board: as soon as the Covid restrictions would be lifted, I wanted to be ready, to organize it as quickly as possible.

The colour themes were swinging from minimal/all white, to pastels, to rich, deep hues.

Like, I didn't really know.

Theo would make fun of me: he said I could never make a decision.

He would grab the phone teasingly from my hands, and I would go mad, because I had pinned wedding dresses as well, and I absolutely didn't want him to see them.

I was set on a specific model, that I thought he would like.

He said he didn't care about dresses. But knowing him, I knew that he still had his sweet spots.

He was into a like, aethereal, fairly-like aesthetic. He always said, I was a fairy.

I knew what it did to him, so...

But I wanted it to be a surprise.