I have always been the sort of girl that felt very backward when it came to relationships. I am definitely what you would call a very, very late bloomer. Dating was somewhat of an enigma to me. How did other girls do it? Have boyfriends and all that fun? In order to justify my lack in my love life I began to see all the negative in relationships. “They only bring drama,” I would tell myself. “They only happen to other people, never me.” So of course what happened… everyone else was in relationships other than me.

Then last year both my sisters became engaged to wonderful guys, so I reiterated to myself, “See, everyone else has relationships but me. Why don’t they ever happen to me?” And, “Why is it that the only guys who are interested in me I’m not interested in, and why are the guys I’m interested in are never interested in me?” You can see, I had created for myself a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

A few months ago things started to change inside me, however. Without realizing it, I began to do things for myself that I had never done before. I began to really follow what I wanted for myself in my heart. I quit my stressful job to pursue my dreams of dancing. I had lost weight because I wanted to be more in shape and felt the satisfaction of having a stronger body. I felt more confident in flirting with guys because it was fun to do, not because I wanted a date. A month before I had put a word up on my wall, a word to describe who I was, and how I wanted guys to see me. The word was “Vivacious.” I saw that word everyday. I didn’t think too much of it, but every time I looked at it I smiled and knew it was true of me. I knew that no one had seen it yet, but that it was true. I was vivacious.

Then, out of the blue I met a guy I was attracted to. I flirted. He flirted back. Then I began to fantasize about getting together with him. He was younger, but I said to myself, “So what?” I didn’t look like the other girls around him, flirting too. “It doesn’t matter,” I said to myself. “I am vivacious.”

It was winter, but no snow had come. The weather was acting like summer. We were hoping for snow, though. “What if it snowed and he and I could play in the snow together? That would be fun and romantic,” I thought. The next day it snowed, and we were snowed in a cabin together. We shoveled snow all day and played and wrestled and frolicked. That was great. Still unconscious of my thoughts I thought, “What if we watched a movie together and he snuggled with me? Then perhaps he would kiss me.”

Two days later, there we were watching a movie, when he said to me, “Let’s snuggle.” The night after we watched another movie, then he kissed me.

The next day was really a tiring one, and I wanted to take a nap. “Wouldn’t it be nice for him to snuggle with me while I slept?” He came over and just held me as I slept.

I remember lying in his arms thinking, “What do I think of next? Everything I was dreaming about has come true?” I asked him when he knew he wanted to kiss me. “In the snow,” he said.

How is that possible? I was stumped.

Then I watched the secret. And I knew.

Is this really the secret? Is it really so simple? Can I really have all my dreams come true?

I finally can answer yes!