Those Three Little Words...

It is true that every February we are reminded just how much somebody loves us. I for one think a day all about love is quite fantastic. But I think that if that is the only day you show some love then maybe you should just not bother.

You see, for me love is a spiritual thing. It is more than a feeling or emotion. It is made with sugar and spice, but it has some flour and eggs to make it strong and fluffy! On this day of love I am particularly reminded just how much love means to me.

I have been in love maybe 3 times in my life. My first was in high school my junior year. Met this crazy guy and fell head over heels for him. He was a freshman and we will just name him Mr. B. He made me laugh and that is why I fell in love with him. He was different than all the other guys in school, not weird but different.

Next was after I graduated high school. It was in July and I met this guy we will call Mr. X, while playing volley ball at church. We went and watched fireworks…and sat and talked for a good part of the night. I fell in love with him because he was older and more mature. No, not years older, but he was in college and I was looking for stability.

And then there is Jeff. When I met Jeff I did NOT fall in love with him. In fact, I thought he was the biggest jerk ever! Seriously! I thought he was arrogant, rude and his silence and awkwardness about killed me. In fact I still remember the first time we actually held a conversation..I felt guilty for how harshly I had judged him; he was actually a nice guy and quite shy. We met at work and he was in management so he could not ask me out on a date. So I asked him out…in a roundabout way. I asked him “If a girl like me were to ask you out on a date, where would you take her?” He replied, “I would take her anywhere to get a first date.” Um, he had me at “I”…

We dated for a few months when one day I heard from my boss that Jeff had resigned from his job. I semi FREAKED because we were not really supposed to be dating…but we were. I will NEVER forget how ticked off I was at him for not telling me he was leaving. You see, he lived in Virginia and I lived in Indy so the ONLY time we saw each other is when he came out on business trips, which was about every 2 weeks. That night on the phone I remember just letting him have it! I was so hurt! I did not even let him get a word in edge wise! And after I was done there was silence. He then asked if I was “done” with all of my ranting. I said yes and he then began to explain that in order to tell me something that he had been wanting to say for quite some time he had to leave his job. In the next breath he told me that he loved me! I did indeed drop the phone.

You see, we had been dating for about 4 months and those were words I was not sure I would ever want to hear again…but when he uttered them my heart just melted.

I am not sure at that point in my life if I believed in the term soul mate. I had heard the term thrown around, but I was so bitter from things in my past that I thought hearing those words would usher in feelings of regret and chaos. But instead those three words to me were peaceful, kind, loving and gentle. They were words that came at the right time and for the right reason. Having a long distance relationship is hard enough, but it helped me take the physical aspect out of a relationship. He loved me for who I really was.

As the story goes, there is no real happily ever after in any real relationship that I know of. You have bad times and you both learn from them. You have good times and you cherish them. I think that overall I am a better person for Jeff loving me. Actually, I am a better person for falling in love with those that I have loved. I think that your walk in life can take you down interesting roads and it is your choice to embrace and learn from those experiences. I choose to embrace life! I choose to love and be loved by those in my life.

I challenge you to look at the people in your life and begin to understand why you first fell in love with them. I think you will see them in a new light! Cheers!