Most people don’t believe in love. They think it is too far out of reach. And it is these people that become the greatest advocates for love, when they end up experiencing what they thought only existed in fairy tales.

The thing is… love is never inexistent. It is always there – no matter how small it may be. It’s not one of those things that gradually grow on you. Ok for some it does – snow ball effect right? Sometimes love comes spontaneously. Hits you when you least expect it. And it is not until you get hit right in the middle of your face with love that you realise how truly great a feeling it is. It is like a warm summer’s day. It is like hot chocolate on a cold night. It is like teddy bears, flowers, slippery slides and igloos.

So that was how Stinky felt when he first met her. He had always known that everyone on the farm loved him. But it was a different kind of love – sometimes hurtful, sometimes indifferent. But it was always with the best of intentions. What he felt this time was enormously different to anything he had felt before.

Imagine you were the captain of a ship out on voyage to find a new land. People have told stories about a land virtually unknown, untouched and unreachable to mankind. On the land live animals of the most beautiful kind and grew flowers that would make you weep to behold. You were out at sea for God knows how long and your crew were beginning to stir. You drifted on the waters using a sail that had been patched to a point where the next hole would tear it to shreds. When all hope was almost lost, right before your eyes appears the dream land you always believed existed but had never known until this very moment. Relief. Hope. Love. That was how Stinky felt when he laid eyes upon her. Her name was Pretty – and that she was.

Stinky was always taught that beauty is not skin deep. He was told that ‘you needed to look inside their heart and soul before you truly knew if someone was beautiful’. But the moment she spoke those first words to him he had seen right into the tip of her heart and right through to the top of her soul. It was as though he were born blind and now began to see the light of day – showing him all the wonderful miracles of life.

‘You’re Stinky right?’ she asked as innocent as any gentle soul could ask.

Stinky stood frozen. He blushed and stared looking dumbstruck.

‘Stinky? Right?’ she repeated.

With those few words Stinky and Pretty’s story began. Great start don’t you think? They met as strangers and from there, what they shared together bloomed into something magical. She shared Stinky’s highs and lows throughout University life – always by his side to support him in all of his endeavours. She never complained once even though she had her own highs and lows. It wasn’t until after the graduation ceremony that she really showed how beautiful her soul was.

‘There’s so much of the world that I haven’t seen yet’ he said to Pretty.

‘I know. I’m not going to hold you back’ she replied without a hint of disappointment in her tone.

‘I want you to go to the places you have always dreamed of seeing. I want you to remember them so that when you come back, you can tell me all your stories and describe everything you have seen’

‘I will’ Stinky said.

‘And I want you to think of me. I won’t be far away. I will still be breathing the same air as you, seeing the same sky and stars as you too. I will miss you…’ Pretty said.

Tears were welling in her eyes and with a quick blink a few tears rolled down her cheeks. Stinky wiped them away with his hands and dried them as best he could. They sat there looking out to the green grass on the sports ground. It was silent, but it was golden.

That was a moment in Stinky’s life that he would never forget – no matter where he ended up. Each thought of Pretty was like an embrace comparable to no other. He looked forward to seeing her again. But there was so much more to see.

I wonder where Stinky will end up next?

HELP SUPPORT STINKY!