Everything in my life was going as good as could be expected until it came down to the last month right before leaving for college. I was stuckup, I had to make a decision and it had to be very fast. My mother and cousin at the time helped me through all my decision making. Finally even though I was scared I made my decision to attend a University, then came time for me to leave. My cousin and I made one of the hardest choices I had to make that summer, should we try to work things out so far away? We came to the conclusion that if we were meant to be together it would work, and it did. That is until I met Nick, 5'8", brown eyes and hair. It's not what you would call love at first sight at all, I wouldn't even say we were friends at first. Actually I could not stand to be alone with him, he was loud, rude, and showed no interest in me at all. As the year progressed we were almost forced to spend more time together, you see we both play in the University we attend and on all the road trips we always ended up hanging out together because all our friends were friends. Little by little I thought that he actually was a nice guy. We became friends and would be together a lot. He helped me through everything, specially, when I missed my boyfriend the most. He would always listen to me. Three months past faster then I expected and my cousin came and surprised me at college. I was so excited, but at the same time I felt different. He spent a week in town and he kept asking me what was wrong and told me that I had changed. I just said nothing was wrong because I really did not think anything would change. I just wasn't ready for this, not ready to be faced with what I was going through without even knowing. I was slowly falling into love…unexplainable with Nick. I had no idea what was going on. We all went out one night and everyone was dancing. I still to this day could not tell you what came over me, but as I was dancing with my cousin I began to cry. I missed Nick more then anything in the world, it is true what they say that "sometimes the worst way to miss someone is when they are right there and you can't have them" I understood how that felt that night more then ever. I had to leave the dance floor, it was dark so my cousin did not notice I was crying but he stayed behind dancing with some friends of mine. I walked to Nick and without thinking I said "I can't do this," he said "do what?" I said "I can't be without you!". He didn't say a word, but I did not want him to. From then on we have been together, not always being the easiest of times but always the best. Things did not work out as everyone expected, but for me it was exactly, what I was looking for. I was looking for love the entire time and found it for all the wrong reasons until I met Nick.

It was one bright morning a boy was standing in the middle of town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful and fresh heart in the valley. A large crowd gathered and it agreed that it was his heart, the perfect heart. Because, it had no marks, no defects, and no scars on it. The crowd agreed that it was the perfect and freshest heart that they had ever seen. The boy was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful, fresh, and perfect heart.
Suddenly, an old man appeared in the crowd and said, "Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine?" The crowd and the young man looked at the old man's heart. It was beating strongly. It was full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed, and other pieces put in. But they didn't fit quite right and there were several rough edges.

The people murmured - how can he say his heart is perfect…how can he compete with the young heart? And so on. The young man looked at the old man's heart and saw its condition and laughed. He said, "You must be joking. Compare your heart with mine, mine is perfect, and yours is broken and full of wounds and tears."

"Yes" said the old man. "Yours is perfect looking and I would never deal with you. But you see every scar in my heart represents the person to whom I have given my love- I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them and often they give me a piece of their heart, I fit into the empty place of my heart. But because the pieces are not exact, I have some rough edges, which I appreciate because they remind me of the love we shared together. Some times I have given my heart away and they didn't. So, I have some empty scratch. Although these scratches are painful, reminding me of love I have for these people. And I hope someday they may return and fill the empty spaces they have caused that I am waiting on to be filled. So, now do you see what true beauty is, it comes with sharing and giving?"

The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks, walked up to the old man and took a piece from his heart and handed to the old man with his trembling hands. The old man took his gift and placed it in his heart and took a piece from his and placed it in the wounded young man's heart. It fits but not perfectly, as there were some rough edges. The young man looked at his heart. Not perfect anymore but more beautiful than he ever saw. Since love from old man flowed to his heart. They held their arms and walked side by side together.

I sold all my things and my mother's sofa set to go to Canada. I was'nt eligible for immigration as I had learnt and so decided to take a visit visa and depart with my friend who was already living there and on a visit here. The harshness of the cold weather constrains a lot of things we can do here. It limits your mobility, your work habits and your outings. I soon found myself more or less like a prisoner living in my friends house with his family. The employment situation was also not so bright. Very depressed but happy with the change in my life I kept searching and finally came across a job in a janitorial company which I gladly accepted. It was the neighbors friend with his own company who hired me as a supervisor for Canadian $ 6.00 per hour which is not that bad. My task was with the wax machine which was rather heavy, polishing the floor and ensuring all other team members finish their work in the allotted time. This is where I met Leticia, she was very sweet, her sight delighted me and each day the fondness kept growing. I became so fond of her and got so close to her that I started spending more and more time with her. I moved when I had enough money to pay rent and started sharing a house where smoking, drinking, pets and plants were not allowed, Leticia would be with me a lot. I would go shopping for her and buy her the things she liked. One day I don't know what happened she started loud noise...till the land lord learnt that I was hiding her in my bedroom and finally I was given a choice …either her or me out.. I was disturbed… did not know which way to go and where to turn, on one side my loneliness and on the other the rules, so being a good boy I decided to drop Leticia to exactly where I had found her and one day said good bye to my good friend of my lonely times with a kiss and a big hug and put her favorite biscuit in her mouth all she could say is woof… woof.