Tonight’s game held great significance for me, though it had very little to do with football. At the end of the game I thought back to last year at this same time and remembered where I was and who I was with, watching the same game with different results.

He had decided we should go to a sports bar and watch the game together, something that excited me, quality time with him was something I ached for. So we watched and joked and harassed each other as we cheered on separate teams. We even came up with a game to make it more interesting. We laughed the whole night and it felt light-hearted and fun. That time in my life marks the last few weeks that I can remember feeling that way with him. It was within those 2 weeks before he shipped out again that we had the best of times, or so I thought it was.

It wasn’t until he came back in the spring that I realized he had become a stranger to me. So I look back on those last few, cold nights in February with happiness because that was the boy I fell in love with; smiling and so full of life. The angry, unhappy boy I saw when the snow had thawed was nowhere near the boy who had teased me with love about my losing team.

Tonight I was able to watch a great team beat the ‘enemy’ and I felt at peace. I can finally let this happy memory from the year past go. The Ravens winning was like a sign that reminded me that this year is not going to be like 2012 and that this is a good thing. This will be a year full of happiness and joy. I may not have someone that holds my heart in their hands and whispers sweet nothings into my ear anymore, but from this point forward I didn’t have that last year either.