Transcript

It’s 2013. I’m in my bedroom packing my bags and getting ready to go to the airport, where a plane will take me 16.000 thousand kilometres away from my house, my family and all the people I love. I’m about to leave my country to go to Australia for at least one year.

I’ve always thought that getting out of your comfort zone is what makes you grow and evolve as a person. I think moving to the other side of the world, where I have no friends, will help me do that. It will be a challenge, and I love challenges.

But I’m not happy in this picture. A week before this photo was taken I fell in love with a girl. We were good friends and have always cared about each other. 

But now things are different. We’re both in love and I’m leaving her. The flight is booked and that plane is now waiting for me.

I have a lot on my mind in this photo. When you’ve just fallen in love with a person, the whole world changes so I’m now thinking that I’m doing the most stupid thing in my life. 

Should I cancel my flight? Should I stay? What about my Australian experience? All the people that I can meet there and the places that I will see. What about getting out of my comfort zone?

I decide to go, but promise my girlfriend that I’ll be back in no more than six months. She takes me to the airport and we cry. It’s painful for the heart and for the mind too. 

Too many arrangements have been made and I simply can’t cancel the whole thing. I’m so worried. Will those 16.000 kilometres divide us?  Will we ever be together again? Will she find another man while I’m in Australia? Will I find another woman? 

I don’t know, but deep in my heart I feel I must go. It’s the right choice.

Three months after my departure I receive a message from her. A message I’ll never forget. A message I was not ready to receive. A message that changed my life completely and forever. 

It said, “I’ve just bought a ticket. I’m coming to you”.

Aloha and I have been together ever since, and this is us today.