A hearts struggle.

a relationship that started as a long distant relationship, a young man waits for to pick up his girlfriend to pick her up. he's extremely nervous when an elderly woman helps reassure him.

If you believe that every love story is a happy, no worries, everything is hunky dory. Then this story is not for you, don't get me wrong this story has a happy ending but this tale has its ups and downs both people had their doubts, troubles, both were hesitant at first but both new they had to try. This is how how I met them both.

He was sat there presence showing confidence, but I saw right through it. I sat next to him wearing a simple yellow sundress which caught his eye mainly because it was winter. As I sat down I asked in a sweet tender voice “so,what are you doing here hun” he looked at me with an energetic smile, “waiting for my girlfriend, she's moving here to America with me”.

I looked him over one more time “scared are you”

he looked at me with a shocked look what makes you think I'm scared”he said with a fake smile.

I smiled and said with a “I've been around for centuries child”.

He displayed a smile that was frail , almost a whisper “yea to be honest I'm terrified, I don't know what will happen, we have been in a serious long distance relationship for about one year”. He began to tell me that they had discussed it for a few months for one of them to move with them to their country. But one night she had a fight with her father about someone moving in with them and mooching off of them like Americans tend to do she said. I chuckled and said with a smile “hate is something that I gave up long ago, her father will eventually come to like you for his daughter”. “Hopefully” he added as he looked down at the feet of people that walk by, his voice muffled by his hands still resting on his face. But I could still make out what he said “ I do love her” a long sigh came out of him as he continued “ but there's more, what if we fight a lot when she gets here, what if the love fades and she starts to cheat, what if I cheat, what if we don't make it”.

All the what ifs that are coming out are making me smile, not for the joy of his pain, but the joy of seeing him as a human, I see people today hiding what hurt them from everything and everybody, when they let it out, they let it out in a horrible way. He continued about all the different things that could go wrong after they move in together, I sat there listening to him say this and that about the worries he had when I interrupted “before you continue, let me ask you this, How did your paths collide”.

He stopped, looked at the around and smiled “ it was nothing like I expected, I always thought you got people who tried to trick you, or those creeps who went looking for something illegal”. All of his worried disappeared when he started his tale on how they met. He continued as he began to stare at me “ I was on this website to try to make friends and I was looking at everyone's posts, she said something funny and I commented”. He leaned his head back against the seat , looking at the ceiling while he continued “we started talking soon after that, found out we had a lot in things in common, I began to like her and started talking to her more and more, I lost sleep, and almost lost my job because I talked to her so much, but I didn't care”. We both chuckled at that for a bit “my late husband was like that” I said with a smile.

He continued “we would talk till the sun come up on whoever end it was on about everything, every time we talked or video chatted, it lasted for hours” he was getting into his story more and more every second, his worries were disappearing. But I saw the worries come back “what if that was the only time we were happy was when we were online”. I just shook my head with a smile on my face “ finish your story then I will tell you something that will make you believe what you are doing is right”.

He nodded “yes mam” I looked at him and said sarcastically “ if you knew me you would call me mam” and winked at him. He couldn't help but laugh “I soon said to her that I liked her a lot, she said that it was about time because she didn't know if I liked her because she liked me too” he stopped for a bit to look around at the people. He continued “ in broken English of course, every time I heard it, it was the cutest voice ever” he chuckled “ she use to say my name wrong. Though in fairness I destroyed her name on more then one occasion”. I laughed “ what is your name, I never asked that by the way”. My name is Mike Eccelson, whats your name miss” she chuckled “ people call me Miss Mary Ethel Erickson” we both laughed “ it's an interesting name, you can blame my parents for that”. I looked around at the people to see what they were up to “so what is your girls name then” I asked while staring at some large angry man yelling at a poor woman for getting in his way. He sighed “her name is Hana Hashimoto” I laughed “ ah, shes from Japan, when did you too make it official” he got lost in his thoughts for a few minutes, I sat there staring at the people when he said “ a few months after we both said I liked you, we made it official that we were together, didn't say I love you till a few months after that”. He stared at the people passing by with such intent, I wondered what he was thinking, sat forward, hands how I found him “ you know I wonder if people have these feelings too, I wonder if other people have the same worries I have”.

I gave a deep sigh and shook my head “child, everybody has doubts about everything, bills or money, college life, a place to sleep, or even love”. He smiled at me looked at me with a little hope still in his eyes “how do you know Mary, shes from japan, I've had been told by pretty much everybody around me that it isn't a real relationship” we exchanged glances back and forth, for a few minutes, no words just looks “ son, it doesn't matter the age, distance, or sex of the person, if you love them” I said with a smile on my face and a confidence in my tone. He nodded his head “yea, that's what I kept telling everyone that told me those things”.

I asked him to tell me somethings about her I was curious about the young lady. His laugh was hearty and filled with a smile “ she is very forgetful, our anniversary and my birthday, she would forget her head if it wasn't attached”. He leaned back, sat straight up “ it didn't bother me though she felt so bad when she forgot out anniversary, she cried and cried. I almost felt like I was wrong” as he continued he stated that she made it up for her forgetfulness, he didn't say how but I put one and one together though I didn't say anything. He went on to tell me that she was studying to be a a doctor, he loved to draw, he even showed me some of his drawings, he was really good, he said he wanted to go into comics or become an artist.

He told me that when they discussed about the the two moving in together, it was hard because she was scared, he offered to move there but then there was an fight with her father so she chose to move here. She was sad to lose her friends there but they said they would come visit and they have facebook to stay in contact. And she would make more here too, as he went on he explained that he made proper arrangements so she could move here, adding an extra dresser, she told him about some of the food the ate in japan that he got yesterday, even had to go thirty miles out of town to get some. It didn't bother him, he liked it said he got to talk to some other Japanese people living here and they gave him advise too.

He stared at his watch while bouncing his foot in a rapid motion, I chuckled “ still nervous are you” he nodded “ getting closer to landing, its becoming more real as the seconds pass” his lips quivered, his body was shaking. He was both happy that she was getting closer and scared that it would become a huge mess. I laughed “ let me tell you about my love life with my late husband”, he looked at me with confusion “okay, was it wonderful or great” I shook my head “half the time I wanted to kill him, he was stuck in his ways even in his old age, broke more things then he fixed, and the fights we had could have been legendary”. I laughed after I said that, I sighed deeply then continued “ but in all our life together, the fights, the worries, the times we both cried because we said something stupid, the break ups, time after time we still loved each other enough to fight for each other. If you love each other you will fight till your last breath for one another”.

When I said that he smiled “ what were the fights like” he asked in a curious tone, the way I smiled was almost maniacal “ they went from soft tone verbal to shouting so loud that I think people in space could hear us”.

He said “oh wow, why was that”

“we were both to stubborn to admit the other one was wrong” I said with a hilarity in my voice

“what if we fight like that” he said with a worried tone

I smiled “then you found a fighter, never let her go, love her and admit she is right, happy wife, happy life. Remember that and you will live a long time”. He smiled, at her “I've been told that before, by my parents”. we both chuckled “ all I know is that I'm both scared and happy that she is coming here” he said looking at her. She gave him a reassuring smile “live your life like you always have,she will love you for you, that's all you need to know hun” he nodded his head “yeah, thank you mam, for everything” he looked at his phone to see the time on his phone. His eyes lit up, again for millionth time “oh her plane is landing I'm going to meet her, thank you again” he said as he got up. I nodded my head “go sweetie, she's waiting for you” to be frank I still chuckle about that even to this day his worries about all of the failures but thinking of the good times or seeing her plane was landing blew his worries out of the water.

I could still see him trembling with some fear as he walked away towards the gate waiting for her, but the smile on his face and the the way he could not stand still showed he was more excited then scared. As the announcer on the speaker said the plane has now landed and all of the other nonsense that noone really cares for, the people started to get off in groups of one to four. a herd of people came out, an elderly woman talking to a young man, a family. Soon after the what seemed like forever to the young man he saw her, the long long black hair that reached the middle of her back, how small she was he almost jumping to the ceiling.

When the two met they hugged and kissed, when they were walking towards the exit they walked passed me, I could not understand them because they were speaking Japanese. He nodded his head and gave me a small wave, and I back at him. I saw them in the paper today getting married, and he even found my address and sent me an invite, I'll be going to that when the date comes closer. I wish to hear the stories of the two after she moved in the fights, the making up, the long nights talking to each other eating food and just being there selves. Time flies when you are having fun and living life with the ones you love.