‘Cause I Don’t Need Boxes Wrapped In Strings

“So take these words
And sing out loud
‘Cause everyone is forgiven now
‘Cause tonight’s the night the world begins again”
The Goo Goo Dolls – Better Days

Three years ago today, one message changed my life. At the time, you wouldn’t have though it would be extraordinary. It wasn’t some grand moment where I somehow knew this person would become one of the most important people I’d ever meet. It was just a conversation. A simple hello, after a few nights of messaging back and forth over the holiday, and then we finally got to meet.

Looking back now, that’s probably one of my favorite parts of the whole story. The moments that end up changing our lives don’t often announce themselves when they happen. They quietly become part of our story long before we realize we’re writing one. If you had shown me this picture three years ago, I never would have believed it. Not because of where Mackenzie and I are now, but because of everything that happened between that first conversation and this moment today.

Somehow one hello became a very long conversation until five in the morning. Then came more late-night conversations that neither of us wanted to end. It became a relationship. It became birthdays in Bali, The French Riviera, Costa Rica, renewing our vows, quiet evenings that became some of my favorite memories, and countless photographs that captured little pieces of a life we were building together. It became planning for a day we would finally meet in person, counting down the days/weeks/months/years (yes years!) until there wasn’t a timer anymore, just holding hands, naps, seeing things we’d never seen, long drives, dinners, and realizing someone who had always existed on the other side of a screen was suddenly standing beside me.

One of the most underappreciated gifts of writing this blog is that it has become a time capsule. Most people have memories. I have memories too, but I also have every post here that I can revisit almost exactly as I experienced them. I can go back and read what I was feeling before we met in person, the excitement after we finally did, anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, and all of the little moments in between that probably didn’t seem as important enough to remember at the time. They’re still here, frozen in words and pictures, quietly waiting for whenever I feel like turning back a few pages. (If you know me, you know I revisit things very often.)

I know a lot of people don’t like to save pictures or things after something happens. There was a time when I did that too. But since the blog has existed, here or it’s prior versions that have moved to here, that changed. Whether things went the way I wanted or the way I didn’t I chose to keep everything here. The chapters may seem like just a category choice, but it was very intentional. I’ve always looked at different life periods as chapters and being able to open or close one is perfect for what I like to do.

I don’t read those posts wishing I could go backward. I read them with gratitude because they remind me that every chapter was real. Every memory mattered. Every version of us deserved to be celebrated while we were living it. Life doesn’t always follow the outline we imagine for it. If I could go back three years and tell myself where we’d be today, I probably wouldn’t get it right. Not because the story somehow went a direction I didn’t expect, but because life has a way of writing chapters we never see coming.

Today, our story looks different than it did in many of those earlier posts. The chapter has changed, but the people haven’t. Along the way we found our way to a really amazing friendship, and that’s another page I never would have predicted when all of this started. If these last three years have taught me anything, it’s that relationships don’t lose their value simply because they evolve. Sometimes they become something different without becoming something less. Tthe title changes while the care, the respect, and the gratitude remain exactly where they’ve always been.

That’s what this picture reminds me of. It’s not an ending. It’s not even a beginning. It’s simply another page in a chapter that is yet to be written. One of the reasons Better Days by The Goo Goo Dolls stuck with me for this post is because it doesn’t ask life to be perfect. There are plenty of songs about getting the ending you hoped for. Ones about everything working out exactly the way you imagined. Finally reaching the place you’ve been chasing.

When I was looking for the song that I thought fit this I came back to Better Days, I knew it was the right choice. I’ve never heard Better Days like it was “exactly what you imagined or getting to the place you’ve chased for so long.” I’ve always heard it as a song about “choosing hope anyway”. It’s about believing there’s still something beautiful waiting around the next corner, even when you have absolutely no idea what that corner looks like. It’s a reminder that hope isn’t built on certainty. It’s built on the willingness to believe that tomorrow can still surprise you.

I think that’s why this song feels so fitting today. Three years ago, if you’d asked me where one conversation would lead, I couldn’t have answered. A year later, my answer would’ve been different. A year after that, different again. Today, I can tell you I still don’t know. Then again, maybe I never did. The future has always been unwritten. The only difference is that now I’m more comfortable admitting it.

When I was younger, I think I imagined better days as something waiting somewhere out in front of me. A destination I’d eventually arrive at once everything finally made sense. Now I think they have a funny habit of happening while we’re busy looking ahead. They could have been those late-night conversations neither of us wanted to end. Maybe they were finally closing the distance between us and realizing that the person I’d spent months and months talking to was suddenly standing right in front of me.

They might have been celebrating another birthday together in Bali, The French Riviera, Costa Rica, or in person? It could have been renewing our vows because, in that moment, it was exactly the chapter we were living. Or was it the quiet evenings that never became blog posts because we were too busy simply enjoying them? Today it’s standing on this beach three years after one simple hello, taking another picture and appreciating just how incredible the journey has been. I think that’s what this anniversary has really become for me.

Three years ago, I (both of us probably, but I can’t speak for her) was so focused on where one conversation might lead that I never stopped to think about how much it would change me along the way. Looking back now, that’s what stands out the most. Not trying to figure out how the story ends, but appreciating the person I’ve become because I’ve had the chance to live it. That’s why I’m okay with not knowing exactly what comes next.

The last three years have already taught me that some of life’s best chapters begin before we realize they’re chapters at all. We don’t get to read ahead. We just keep turning the page, trusting that one day we’ll look back and realize another ordinary moment quietly became something unforgettable. Three years ago, simple messages were sent without having any idea how much of my life it would eventually change.

If that’s taught me anything, it’s that the future has a funny way of exceeding our imagination. Sometimes it gives us exactly what we hoped for. Occasionally it gives us something completely different. More often than not, it gives us a little of both. Three years ago, tomorrow became memories I never could have imagined. Maybe tomorrow still has more surprises left. I think it always has and it always will. Here’s to the hello that started it all. And of course, here’s to better days that are still to come. Credits for everything can be found below.

“I wish everyone was loved tonight
And somehow stop this endless fight
Just a chance that maybe we’ll find better days”
The Goo Goo Dolls – Better Days

Credits:

~Scene~

Sim: Luanes World – Le Monde Perdu – Summer 2026
Pose: Animosity – C-240 ~ CzarFenris Resident

~Her~

Head: LeLutka EvoX AVALON 4.0 ~ Jaden Nova
Hair: DOUX – Santorinni Hairstyle ~ Dam1710 Resident
Body: [LEGACY] [BODY] (f) Perky Edition (1.7.1) ~ MeshBody Resident
Lipstick: GOREGLAM – ‘Wet’ Lip Plumper EVO X ~ san0989 Resident
Arm Tattoos: HORL – Arm Orn 4 Tattoo [FADED 50] ~ Bree Coy
Hand Tattoos: ALBA – Lore Tattoos Bundle (3, 5, 7) ~ Kaiasalvat Resident

Rings: [REVERIE] – Summer Treasures Ring Set ~ mewrmaid Resident ~ NEW @ Anthem (July 3-July 30)

~Him~

Head: LeLUTKA.Head.NOA.4.0 ~ Jaden Nova
Head Applier: VELOUR: KALEB Skin for Evo X ~ Kiria Mama
Hair: [MFCNT] THOR Bun – Grooming Hair – LeBarbier Alpha
Hairbase: LeLUTKA.EvoX.Hairbase.044 (BOM) ~ Jaden Nova (Comes with the LeLUTKA NOA Head)
Eyes: [ContraptioN] Depthglass Eye ~ Walton Wainwright ~ NEW @ The Warehouse Sale (June 23-July 18)
Eye Base: [Magic Beauty] Marisa eyes pack2 #1(BOM) ~ Luzmil Resident
Ears: ^^Swallow^^ Gauged S Ears ~ Luciayes Magic
Ear Tattoo: RichB. Ears Tattoo #08 ~ Salvy Hexem
Beard: [MFCNT] Ducky Skunk Beard & Stache – LeBarbier Alpha
Beard Layer: [MR] Jimmi Facial Hair for EvoX Heads Style 1 ~ Daniel Whiskers
Body: [LEGACY] Athletic Edition (1.7.1) ~ MeshBody Resident
Skin: VELOUR: PICASSO HOMME Skin for Legacy (FIT/TAN) Picasso Neck ~ Kiria Mama