A Light at the End of the Tunnel

About a year ago, I was going through a little something, and was feeling pretty down. It was understandable, what with not having a full-time job, having only bare-bones health insurance (with the added bonus of no prescription coverage!), and constantly worrying that maybe I made the wrong choice by getting a degree in such a small, specialized field.

This was before all of those fears were blasted away, of course. But at the time, it didn't matter how optimistic as I tried to be (stop laughing!), it was really hard to see the end of the tunnel when I felt like I was stuck in the dark.

It was in the midst of this darkness that I finally started to move past the pain and confusion in my head. I pulled up to Mike's house just as he was arriving home from work. Once we got inside, he still had his coat on and was clearly hiding something within. He surprised me with a cute little stuffed dinosaur.

Protecting a sleeping Mike.

And that's how Mr. Happy Dinosaur entered my life. It was probably one of the sweetest, most thoughtful gifts I've ever received, and while I can't fully explain it, that's the point when I started to turn it all around.

Since then, Mike has given him a name, a personality, and an awesome dinosaur gait. He mainly communicates with Mike, but occasionally shares secrets with me.

Mike had to go to Orlando for work yesterday, and he sent me this picture before he left his house. The quote? "He is in charge now."

This probably sounds ridiculous, I mean, how can people in their late twenties play with stuffed dinosaurs? And I perhaps you think that Mike and I are insane, but that's okay. Mr. Happy Dinosaur is just one of a million little things to remind me how lucky I am to have found my match in Mike. He really is my light.