Never Move for a Guy - Francesca

Although I have been burned a few times, and had terrible dating experiences, I am a hopeless romantic at heart. I tend to fall fast and hard if I meet someone I really connect with. I tend to be a little too free-spirited at times, which can lead to amazing things and trouble. In this case, it was both.

I was flying to Boston for my first time to go to my cousin's wedding. Not only was I excited to head out to an amazing city, but I was flying in on St. Patrick's Day...this would be my first official St. Paddy's Day as an adult (at 21 I lived overseas, at 22, I was on Spring Break and was already too drunk to notice). I was so excited. So, I didn't really know anyone there except for family, but I'm outgoing and can make friends as I go. After trying to get free drinks on the flight...to no success...we land and get to our hotel. I inform my parents that I'm going out in Boston, and I'll be back later. To this day, I really don't know why they never tried to stop me, but, I guess we'll never know. I end up in the center of Boston at 10 p.m., a really late time to start drinking. There are lines everywhere, and I soon discover it's one in-one out at all the popular bars. Lines really give you an opportunity to make friends, and I quickly adopted myself into a group of people, and informed them it was their responsibility to make sure I had fun. We bar hopped, talked, and just had a good time in general. I couldn't stop talking to one person in particular...he was really cute and interesting. Joe and I spent a lot of time talking that night, and he offered to drive me back to my hotel, which was nice since it was about a $50 cab ride away. We spent the rest of the weekend together, but I figured it was just a weekend fling.

After I got back to Denver, we continued to talk everyday, and I was completely infatuated. I'd been trying to find a job and move somewhere, anywhere, and I decided to focus my search on the Boston area. All I knew was that I wasn't happy being so far away from Joe. A couple weeks later, he was out in Denver to visit me, and I was scheduling job interviews in Massachusetts. I ended up landing a job that sounded cool, and found out I had two weeks to pack my life, find a place to live, and get myself out there. It was going so fast, but I was caught up in all the excitement.

Now, uprooting your life and moving somewhere where you don't know anyone is hard. I had prepared myself, but didn't realize how difficult it would be to go from a place I'd lived my whole life to a place where I didn't even know where anything was. I leaned on Joe for support, but the good times we had were overshadowed by the fights. I needed to be more independent, but he got upset when I went out alone. I hadn't seen the jealous side of him before. I tried to make things work, but I was homesick and felt pretty lonely. He didn't want to change his life for me, and things got rockier. After a few months, I couldn't take it anymore. I knew he was cheating on me, and I spent all the energy I could have used making friends and going places fighting with him. It was the most painful breakup I have ever had. I had no one to turn to...all my friends back home only told me to move back. I was completely lost...luckily I had found reasons other than him to stay. Moving is never easy, but to base it on a fleeting feeling...it is a recipe for disaster.