Photo by Leonardo Sanches on Unsplash

With blond hair and blue eyes, Bernard captured my heart immediately. We met in the Prince of Wales Public School parking lot as he guided our group of teenagers onto the bus headed for the airport.

For the next four weeks, I ogled him from afar.

Although he was at least 10 years older than me, I let my young heart believe that he could love me as much as I loved him. After the French Exchange, I asked him to be my pen pal and kept a framed 8.5″ x 11″ photo on the shelf in my closet.

It wasn’t until he wrote about his upcoming marriage that I finally removed the photo.

But I quickly replaced it with Dan’s photo. At least Dan was my age and attended the same high school classes as me. With his photo, I added a chicken wishbone on which I had wished to hold his undying love. But that dream died the night he brought Suzie to my house party.

He broke my heart, but I mended it by dreaming of Brit. We met on a river-rafting weekend in Ottawa. Our tour guide, Brit, delighted me with tales of his adventures all over the world. But my infatuation waned when he moved back to England. I suppose it wasn’t meant to be. Especially considering I didn’t even know his real name.

Over the years, I crushed on Gino who I met at Sandbanks Provincial Park on the day of our annual family reunion. And Harman who visited from the Netherlands. And Terry. And Phil. And….well, many boys.

I crushed fast and I crushed hard.

But it wasn’t until many years later, in desperation, that I lay face down on my living room floor and cried out to God. I didn’t want a crush. I wanted real love. I begged Him for a man who wanted to be a husband and who wanted to be a father.

God heard me and answered my prayer.

Only weeks later my cousin introduced me to my future husband. I crushed on this man. But more than that, I fell head-over-heels in love. We married a few years later and are still holding strong to this day.

If you like compelling, heart-wrenching, and nostalgic stories like this one then you’ll love this memoir of young life experiences that take you down memory lane. Buy Through Trials to Triumph to learn how your faith and trust in God can root you through troubled times today!