Holly and Roy ~ Can't Help Falling In Love With You

I met Roy at a party when I was fifteen and he was seventeen, but in a few weeks he would turn eighteen. It was many many years ago, so many years ago that it was like a party that you would give to a child now, everyone sat around a table and we had a set meal. The first words I ever spoke to Roy were at that party, I jokingly asked him to swap spoons with me as mine was bigger so I said, "swap spoons with me, you have a bigger mouth ". It was exciting for me as he was the local heartthrob at the time, all the girls fancied him and would talk about him. All my friends would say "oh Roy Briscoe", it was clear how many girls liked him. But I had convinced myself that I wouldn't fall for Roy like all the other girls did, I was adamant that I would be impervious to all of his charms. When, in actual fact, at that party I fell for him instantly, like a tonne of bricks. There were three other girls at the party as well as me that also fancied him, but unlike them I was the lucky one, my parents didn't mind me staying out late. So whilst they disappeared home to their parents, I stayed out past eleven o'clock until about three o'clock in the morning. Instantly, I had a better chance of getting to know Roy and taking our connection further. I really did chase him, from day one, as I thought he was absolutely gorgeous and wanted to be with him.
     Unfortunately he didn't live close by and had to travel from a different village, but he did go to the youth club so I started to go too. The second time I saw him was at the local village feast, we had a nice time going on the rides with all of our friends but no dates alone. So after a while I decided to ask his friend if he would ask Roy to go on a date with me, and we did, just before I turned sixteen, we had our first date. We courted, as our parents would say, for four great years. Only ever going to the cinema or walking for miles, from village to village. Neither of us had much money, and the money he earned often went to his mother to help her pay the bills. So we would walk and chat and sing. Then after four years we married, by then I was twenty and he was twenty two, overall we were married for sixty years. I fell for him the day we met and I loved him, and will continue to love him forever. I was lucky, I was very lucky, because it worked for us.
     We lived with my mother for four years because after we had got married there wasn't any houses, due to it being just after the war. Building had only just begun in our area, and you couldn't even rent a room. So we spent four years on the housing list and in that time our first daughter Sue was born, we hadn't planned on it, and it was definitely unexpected, but of course there wasn't a pill or implant at the time. Sex for us was basically Russian roulette, so with that came our daughter. It was difficult; I wasn't working, we were living with my parents and Roy would work double shifts and treble shifts just to earn enough for a deposit and to pay solicitors fees. Eventually we did get our very own little home, a bungalow, and we decided to try for another baby. That was a very happy time for us, I fell pregnant for a second time, we had our little Sue who was four, and we were very happy. Yes, we were very very happy, just about to have our second daughter Liz, and Roy getting a promotion at work, it was a great time.
     We never lived a very glamorous life, it was very much the everyday and family orientated, but it suited us both perfectly. We were best friends, he was my best friend and I was his. We would always say that it was us two back to back against the world, it was us too and we were the unit. Whatever happened, good or bad, we had each other and were together through everything. After Liz was born I had a miscarriage, then I decided to go back to work. That was the worst time in my life, it just wasn't right for me, both Roy and I said that it was better when I remained at home with the children. I enjoyed my home life, I liked being a housewife and we had just moved into a bigger home too. What I didn't know then was that I was pregnant again with our third daughter, Ruth. We would have liked to have a little boy, but we had another girl, and as it turned out we ended up having a blonde, a brunette and a red head!
     After that our family just went on. We lost our Sue, but Roy and I just stuck together, as I said it was us two against the world. Family got married, moved out of our home and then it was just the two of us. It was rather nice as we'd never been able to live by ourselves, so it was the first time we'd ever lived alone. We thought it was lovely, we called it our second honeymoon, we even had our own car as we'd never had the money before. I thought it was absolutely wonderful, some of the happiest times were going off for the day in the car. We often went to Bridlington, our favourite place. The car definitely opened up our world. We went all over, we'd put the music on and Roy would sing to me. I'd say "sing to me love" and he would sing, we had some of our happiest times just driving and singing. He always sang to me, when we were courting we didn't have any money so we did alot of walking, walking was our thing that we enjoyed. As we would walk along, he would sing to me and I loved it. Just before he died, the day he died, one of our tunes came on. It was a record of "Can't help falling in love with you" and he sang it to me, and he died that night. So he sang to me from the very beginning of our life long love story. I love him just as much now that he's gone, I've told him he's got to come and fetch me, and i'm ready any time. He was my life, and I've spent my life since the age of fifteen to eighty with him.

Irene and Keith ~ 1940's Love & Heartbreak

I was in the Salvation Army band in my home village, and Keith was in the Salvation Army band in a nearby village. Keith was known for being a lady's man, he was handsome and of course many women liked him, but we were the two who became close. My friend Glenice was dating Keith's friend Arthur, and that is how we met and became a couple. After a while of dating our bands went to the Isle of Man to do some programmes there, and that's where he proposed to me and we became engaged. A year later in June we got married and honeymooned in Blackpool.

     Around two years after marrying, our first son arrived and we named him Neil. Life so far was great and we were happy, or so I thought, but just after Neil had been born there was an incident with a close friend and Keith. My friend was helping me out a lot around the home, and on this said night both Keith and her were at home. I had popped upstairs to take care of our son and when I came back into the living room I caught them together. That was very difficult for me but as we had just had a child together, and he apologised profusely, I forgave him. After that occasion we seemed happy, we had plenty of trips away and family holidays, but over time things did begin to change.
   
     Six years later we had our second son, Lyndon. We were still in the Salvation army and I felt like we had quite a good life together, but then after a few years of our second son being born we began to drift apart. We were no longer spending any time together; he would be working, at the pub or playing badminton with friends, and I would be home alone with our children. Then came the loss of his job and more worries. When he lost the job he explained to me that it was because he was selling parts for a separate company on the side, but now over forty five years later, I have discovered the truth. A couple of years ago I bumped into his ex manager in the supermarket, and that's when he revealed he had had to fire Keith due to him sneaking various women into work. He had warned him and caught him on a few occasions, but sadly nothing changed and he chose to let him go. It made me angry to find out so many years later but I guess I had been suspicious all along.
   
      After losing his job he chose to become a self employed plumber and then I began to see him even less. He wouldn't arrive home until very late at night, and the excuse would be 'oh I've been doing some estimates'. I didn't know what to believe, I didn't know if he was doing estimates or not. When he would come home he often wouldn't speak to me much, if at all, he would eat and sit in the living room listening to his music and then sleep. Then began the nights that he would spend alone in our caravan on the drive instead of coming to bed, I was both embarrassed and mad. He would never openly say that he had met someone else but when he refused to share a bed or open up to me, I knew.

Eventually people began to tell me just how much of an eye he had for other women, and it escalated from there. He had been seeing his ex girlfriend who he had dated as a teenager, and like us she was married with two children but that didn't matter to the two of them. I payed them a visit one day and found him at her home, there was alot of arguing but by this point I knew all I needed to know. After eighteen long years I decided that it was time to end it, our eldest son was eighteen by that point. Neil didn't care at all, he didn't have a great relationship with his father and definitely hadn't had a good life living with him. He had dealt with it since a very young age, so he had definitely experienced the worst of it. He just wasn't bothered to be honest, he knew what his dad had done, he'd even commented on his behaviour before and received angry responses from his dad. So naturally, as I packed up his dad's things he was happy to help pack too and even pushed his caravan out onto the street. It was funny because as I packed up his belongings Keith told me he had ended it with the other woman, and said he wanted to remain living with us as a family, but that was it for me. After that he returned to her house, she left her husband and he moved in with her.

     We didn't have anything more to do with each other, he saw our youngest son occasionally, often making plans and not seeing them through and our relationship was over. It was difficult knowing he didn't make the effort for our son, or contribute towards him. Of course there were court arrangements and constant refusals, but to be honest, I just wanted a life where I didn't have to deal with him anymore. I had to work long hours and try to make ends meet, but it was better than living with him. I wish that I could say that after our divorce I no longer had to hear about him but of course his new girlfriend would make digs at me and aim to upset me, but that only presents her true colours.

Liane and Ian ~ Keen travellers who met through their passion

Ian and I have been married for just under three years and together for eight. We've spent a lot of that time travelling. We seem to have a formula, work as hard as we can and save money through winter and travel in the summer. In the last couple of years we seem to have settled a bit and we are expecting our first baby in July.
     Ian is originally from New Zealand and I am from England. We met when we moved into the same dorm room as one another in a backpackers hostel in Victoria, Canada. I remember liking him the moment we met, it felt like i'd known him a lot longer. I can't really remember when we started dating or calling each other boyfriend/girlfriend, it all happened kind of gradually. We both had jobs and ended up living in the hostel because it was cheaper than flat sharing. There were quite a few other long stayers and it felt like some strange family unit. It was a great time, we made fantastic friends, we would often go out as a group and a lot of the time involved drinking.
     In the summer we both started to get itchy feet so we decided to head off for an adventure. A few guys from the hostel had told us about a place called Hornby Island. It's a small island sandwiched between Vancouver island and the mainland, and is inhabited mainly by hippies. For two months we lived in a tent in the middle of the forest with a couple of our friends from the hostel. We couldn't tell anyone where our camp was because it wasn't altogether legal. It was only accessed by a small path marked by a ninja turtle sign. It was our own little hippie commune. Our friend Eric was made for the island. We would return to camp to find him wearing nothing but a hat, t shirt and sandals. You really didn't know where to look, but it was a better sight than seeing him sat on the sawdust bucket every morning. We spent most days sitting on the beach watching sea eagles dive for fish or hiking up island. It was the best end to our time in Canada. It wasn't all perfect, we had our arguments. But we just learnt to spend time apart when we needed it. We grew really close and fell in love over time, and that's when we decided it wasn't just a holiday romance.
     We both left Canada shortly after Hornby. Ian went back to Australia where he'd been living before and I returned to England. We spent the next eight months in a long distance relationship. It was incredibly hard, only speaking to each other on the phone or Skype, but we both agreed it ultimately made us stronger.
     Ian came over to the UK in 2011. He met my family and we decided to head to Germany (where it was easier for Ian to get a work visa) to find work. We spent about a month in Berlin before we realised for several reasons, one being we didn't speak a word of German, that finding work was impossible. We had met a man in Canada who lived in the south of France. We didn't want to go back to England just yet so we thought we'd head there for the summer. We found a ride from Berlin to our destination in France on a ride share website. It was cheap at 80 euros for the both of us. It was the worst journey, with a man who was travelling to Monaco to sell water that he was going to collect in the Swiss Alps. There were times when we genuinely thought we were going to die, when driving around hairpin bends in the Alps he steered with his knees so he could take photos of the scenery. We were very relieved when we got to our friends house safe and sound after 21 hours in the car.
     We spent the next few months living with our friend in a small village called Fontain. We didn't have much money so we spent a lot of time swimming in the river. It was there where we decided that we wanted to be engaged. We'd only known each other a year and a half but it felt so right.
The summer ended and we headed back to England. Ian's visa was running out so we had a long weekend in London before he flew back to Australia. We did all the sights and at the top of the London eye Ian proposed again (this time with a ring). He did it quietly, without getting on one knee so we didn't draw attention. The Spanish school kids in the same pod probably wondered why I was crying my eyes out though.
     Ian went back to Australia and we spent four months apart before he invited me to meet his family in New Zealand. It was so nerve wracking meeting his family. It's one thing to say “Hi, i'm going out with your son", its a bit different to claim “you don't know me but i'm marrying your son.” Luckily his family are so lovely and accepting that I needn't have worried.
     My visa was for a year so we both worked and lived with his mum and dad to save money so we could travel in the summer. We saved enough money to buy a camper van which we named Peggy Sue. I have no idea how we came up with the name but it was so exciting because it was our first joint purchase, and made us feel grown up.
     We left on our trip in the new year and went north. We decided Ian would do the majority of the driving and I would navigate and look out for campsites. Ian had hardly travelled around his homeland so it was just as exciting for both of us. New Zealand is the most beautiful country on earth. One day we were visiting glaciers and the next we were the only people sat on a stretch of golden beach. We were travelling but also looking for places we could settle down in the future. We have a shortlist and look forward to revisiting when we go back.
     So I ended up heading back to the UK and apart from Ian, again! It was only for four months this time before Ian bought me a ticket back to New Zealand. It was when I was back we talked seriously about getting married. We both figured that if we could live in a van, on top of each other, for two months without killing each other we could probably do marriage. Our families were excited, and mine were especially excited about a trip to New Zealand.
     We got married on the 29th of March 2014 in a small ceremony in the local park, followed by the reception at a hall around the corner. It was honestly the best day of my life, I got to marry my best friend surrounded by our family and friends...... and have a massive party at the end. The party ended and we headed off. Some of our friends had bought us a night in a local hotel for our wedding night. We had had a fair bit

 to drink and checked in around midnight. It wasn't until the next morning we realised we had no change of clothes. It was the ultimate walk of shame through the lobby, Ian in his suit and me in a wedding dress, barefoot because i'd left my shoes somewhere. It was pretty embarrassing when people stared but I guess it drew out our wedding day a bit longer.
     We are now in England. We have been for the last two and a bit years and our life is going to change very soon. I keep worrying that we will never be able to go off travelling again but really we can and when we do it will be so much more fun, because we will have our little one with us. Bring on our next adventure.

Celebrate Love, In Every Form

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Blog focusing on love, equality & positivity. We're all important and different, and we all deserve happiness in our own unique way. 

A Journey Called Life (AJCL) is a blog dedicated to the lives of real people. It is a place to share stories and memories of love with others. Everyone has a story worth telling, and this is the place to share yours.
AJCL has been created as a third year students university project. The blog has been created with the aim of bringing together interesting stories, from those of various walks of life. Love comes in various forms, shapes and sizes, and here those facts are appreicated and welcomed.
The main aim of the blog is to celebrate, appreciate and understand that everyone is different. Everyone leads or has lead a different life to ones self. We have all suffered and struggled at times, and created the happiest memories at others. This is a place to share the stories of the lives that have been created whilst being with someone, anyone. It is a place to appreciate race, gender, sexuality, religion, and everything about what makes you, you.
All journeys shared on the blog are appreciated, whether it is a tale of long distance love, a harrowing account, a story of a historical time gone by, or anything else you're willing to share. Then feel free to do so via A Journey Called Life.

Natasha and Kiệt ~ Long Distance

My sister and I went to Vietnam over the summer of 2016 to stay at our best friend's house, she studies in York with us. Throughout the summer we travelled to various different places together and her brother came along with us. As time went by we got very close, her brother and I, and it was clear that I was beginning to like him and he was also beginning to like me. Towards the end of our two months together we shared our feelings for one another and tried to make the most of the time we had left. We both knew what we wanted, and that was to be in a relationship and not to think about the future too much.
     After the summer I went abroad to study in America for a semester and one way or another we spoke everyday. We couldn't speak over the phone much, due to time difference, which was difficult at times. But we spoke whenever we could.
      He and his sister and my sister and I are all very close. So naturally, my sister and my best friend are very happy for us. His famiy share their happiness and treat me like I am a part of their family. Of course not everyone shares these feelings and whilst most are supportive of our choices, some don't understand our relationship. What's important is the fact that we don't care too much because we are happy together.
     In January 2017 after not seeing him for six months I went back to Vietnam. We were able to spend two weeks together, and on the thirteenth of January we had been a couple six months. Being there again felt amazing, especially since it was our anniversary, spending all of my time with him and getting to know his family was fun. Of course saying goodbye was hard, especially as we may not see each other again for over a year but we remain hopeful of our future together.
     So far throughout our relationship Kiệt's English has become a lot better and I have learned a lot about the Vietnamese lifestyle. I have gained a love for the culture and the people. I am starting to learn Vietnamese to become more fluent in the language and I'm thinking of living there one day.
     We do have difficult moments at times just like all couples. For instance on valentines day, he opened up to me about his concerns of our relationship. He told me he felt as if he had to break up with me because his family are very traditional,  they want him to marry when he is thirty. That was a worry for us as there are clear cultural differences which cause threats to our relationship. What is expected of him in Vietnam and the society in which he lives, is different to the life I lead here. Yet this doesn't mean our relationship cannot work successfully. I have faith in us, and when he told me of his worries, I made clear my feelings and didn't give up on him. We do have hard times just like any relationship, but we're making it work through our communication and love for one another.
     This relationship, the love we share for each other, and knowing him like I do, has made me a stronger person. Being in a relationship with him makes me feel complete, he makes me happy and helps me to stay positive when I'm feeling low. When we're together we are always laughing and enjoying the time we have. Having met him I can't imagine life without him, he has given me a chance to start a new life somewhere wonderful, with somebody I love. I don't want to imagine a life without him.
     I have high hopes for a happy future together in Vietnam, something I have started to plan. When I have finished my studies at university in England I will return to Vietnam and try to find a job. We both understand the hard circumstances of our relationship, but we trust each other completely and believe we can make it work. So one day distance will no longer be an issue.
Kiệt & Natasha