Happy Friday, Dear Readers,
It’s February, which means Valentine’s Day is soon to come and spring is hopefully in the air. How could there be a better time to write about love?
You can write about love in any of its forms today–if you’ve tried one of these exercises before, you know the parameters are quite flexible. I love participation, and I’m happy with any that I get.
However, if you do want more guidance, you can answer this question. How did you know it was love? When you met that special someone, be it a current partner or an ex, how did you know that your connection was something meant to last?
When I first met The Boy, I wasn’t looking for a relationship. I’d just ended a disastrous one a month before, and what I really wanted was to make new friends and try new activities. I stumbled across The Boy’s photo albums of urban hikes, and was compelled to send him a message on Facebook. An urban adventure was just what I needed.
An English major with the heart of a writer, a deep love of literature and the great outdoors, and a gift for taking beautiful photos, The Boy was someone I’d long dreamed of meeting but had given up on ever finding. Before long, our short messages had grown into 1,000 word + letters. When we finally talked on the phone, we chatted for hours that flew by in seconds. We had so much in common, and I was interested in our differences, too. The Boy is a wine aficionado, but I rarely drink. We had different taste in music, and in movies. I love it when a relationship is not only a place to share, but a place to learn. (He’s probably laughing as he reads this, because I’ve hated some of the movies he’s subjected me to, and vice-versa, but at least we’ve tried to expand each other’s horizons.)
By the time we first met in person to discuss urban hikes, it felt like a date. Part of me was praying we wouldn’t have any romantic chemistry, because the last thing I wanted was another relationship. But of course we did.
From the beginning, The Boy has been very different from other men in my past. For one thing, he treats me exceptionally well. He is always in my corner, and when we do fight, there is an urge to resolve the issue and move past it instead of dwelling. He has been the rock of this relationship, which was certainly needed. I’m not too proud to admit I was an emotional mess when we started out.
When I received his first love letter in the mail, I phoned my mother and told her “I’ve met the man I’m going to marry!” I still feel the same way.
How about you, Dear Readers? How did you know it was love?
Aw… you just made The Boy cry. At work, no less. 🙂
Thank you, sweetheart. That’s an incredibly sweet love letter, and I feel the same about you. Thank you for being my rock.
Aww…I’m glad you liked it. It’s the very least I could do. There’s so much more I could say, but I didn’t want to provoke Barb to come on and say “Barf!” 🙂
That is a very nice story!! Thanks for sharing. I hope one day to have one of my own like that!! Maybe…..I have only recently had the experience of talking to someone and making time fly unawares. That’s never happened to me before.
The only “love” that I can describe to you was the birth of my daughter. It was pretty much universally accepted by anyone who tried to predict that this child I was pregnant with was a boy. I could almost see him in my minds eye for 9 months. But we didnt’ actually know the gender of the child I was carrying.
Then I went into labour and out popped this little girl. Except she wasn’t so little: she was nearly 9 pounds. The doctor didn’t quite make the delivery and when the nurse’s took her out from between my legs and I saw her for the first time I was so happy. And shocked. And she was the sweetest most beautiful thing I had ever seen. All love I had ever felt before that moment was minimized.
And that to this date is the greatest love of my life!!
Kim, that is an incredible story, and I’m sure your daughter would be very touched. Thanks for sharing it!
What a great story! And nice hearing from the other side 🙂
I feel that we find what we need in a relationship, and everyone needs something different. My “boy” puts up with my crazy emotions and balances me. He sees life from the same perspective as me, so living life together isn’t a constant headache (the day-to-day battles would drive me crazy).
We give each other space, allowing us each to spread our own wings when needed. The best part is his flexibility, that allows me to live the life I’ve always wanted – traveling, eating out or getting a cabin!
And I’m also thankful for your Boy, who is my wine-mate to my boy who also doesn’t care for wine 🙂
Thanks for your comment, TS. I think those who find what they need in a relationship are very lucky. God knows I haven’t been this lucky before.
I’m glad to hear that you and your “boy” mesh so well. Perhaps we should start a “non-wine” night. 😉
It’s a strange world in which we live…I’ve had a couple of those moments in my life…when I met my now ex-husband I knew he was the one because, until that point in my life, I had decided that I didn’t want to have children. He was the first guy I had ever dated that I could imagine, and “want”, to have children with. Out of that marriage came two wonderful boys that I would never trade for the world.
But life changes…people change…
With ‘C’, the man I am about to embark the rest of my life with, I knew from the beginning that he was different from every man I had ever met.
He “gets” me.
No one else ever really has. Like you and the boy, we have our disagreements but they are short-lived…we get them over with and get on with living. He tells me he loves me every single day. He shows me he loves in more ways than I can begin to describe.
Hi, Lisa. Sorry it’s taken me so long to respond to your beautiful post.
I love your story, and I especially love that you spoke about a former love as well as your current one, because we all believe it’s love at the time, don’t we? (Or, at least, most of us do.)
There’s no better feeling than to find someone who gets you. I’m glad that you’ve found that with C.