Happy 12 Years of Loving Ben Wyatt from ‘Parks and Recreation’

12 years ago on May 13th, the world was gifted with our first look at Benjamin Wyatt on NBC’s Parks and Recreation. Played by Adam Scott, Ben came to slash the budget of Pawnee, Indiana and get them out of debt, and he was initially Leslie Knope’s worse nightmare—which means that it led to being one of the best OTPs (one true pairings) in television history. It’s no shock that I love Ben Wyatt and want to celebrate him on his anniversary. I did name a cat after the character, after all.

But there’s something so special in Ben Wyatt (and, subsequently, his relationship with Leslie Knope) that makes us, as fans, want to revisit his journey as a character on his anniversary.

Ben Wyatt, my love

For a long time, I thought I was Ben Wyatt. It wasn’t until a friend of mine told me I was Leslie Knope and I got aggressive about it that I realized I was actually Leslie, but for a long while, I thought I was this nerdy character who just wanted to love his stories and write his fanfic in peace.

The thing about Ben is that he’s been through a lot. He went from a kid at the height of fame in his small town to someone shamed for being a teenager. The town of Partridge, Minnesota, elected a teenager to be mayor, and when he predictably acted like a teenager and bankrupted the town making “Ice Town,” they blamed him. So he internalized it all and made it about how he sucked and spent his life trying to prove that he was worthy of being in charge of something. And the parts that he wanted to hide were the parts that helped connect him to Leslie.

I love you and I like you

I want a love like Ben and Leslie. That’s very much part of who I am. I want to get married one day with the wild flower mural there so that I can take pictures with my husband in front of it. I want to celebrate my partner in the way that both Ben and Leslie celebrated each other. Before Ben showed up on the show, Leslie was constantly pinning over men who weren’t good for her. She wanted a relationship with Marl Brendanawicz, and when she did find some sort of happiness with Dave, it was short-lived and not right for her.

Even when she was in a relationship with Justin, it wasn’t right. But her relationship with Ben? It worked from the jump, and the two balanced each other out in a way that made me realize just how love could work. When Leslie was acting irrational, Ben would remind her what she needed to do. When Ben was an anxious mess, Leslie was the one who could calm him down. They worked in tandem together, and it was beautiful.

What Ben means to me

As I said, I named my cat after Ben Wyatt. Benjamin “Benji/J-Shot” Wyatt the cat means the world to me and I am proud in the fact that he’s named for a character that brought me such joy throughout the years. From the minute that Ben Wyatt stepped foot in Pawnee, I knew that I was a goner. It’s nice to know that Leslie Knope was also a goner, but still, I was done from day one. He’s my dream man, he’s my favorite character, and I love him so much. Happy 12 years to Ben.

For the joy of showing off my sweet son, here’s Benjamin Wyatt the Cat.

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If you haven’t watched Parks and Recreation yet, I envy you, because you still have the chance to live through the love we all have for Ben Wyatt for the first time.

(featured image: NBC)