I Illustrated The 15-Year Journey It Took To Marry My Middle School Sweetheart

I usually draw parenting comics about the funny things I experience with my toddler so that he can look back on them in the future. But I also want him to know the story of how I met his mother, which I finally got around to drawing.

When I was 12, I met a girl named Tina. We were both in 8th grade and attending a school in Beijing, China. While it would be true to say “fifteen years later, I married my middle school sweetheart,” it would also be misleading because what love story is ever that simple?

We never actually even dated at any point during the first fourteen years – we had some close calls, but life always intervened. Through it all, we stayed in touch by writing letters to each other, and between us, we accumulated five shoeboxes’ worth of letters that probably should never see the light of day.

I’ve never been one to believe in the idea of soulmates, but I have to say, waking up every morning next to my wife really makes me wonder whether I’m wrong. So perhaps this isn’t a love story per se, but rather a story about Tina’s persistence and sheer awesomeness. Never give up on what you love… sometimes it just takes a while!

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