Lessons on Love

LOVE

          Right now, Little Lindsey, you are naive. To be honest, I really wish you could read this now instead of after the fact. You're about to be in your senior year of high school and you have been dating this guy for two years at this point...you might think he's the one. You even get engaged...

But he's not the one. 

          In fact, he's the farthest thing from "the one" that you will ever run into. Take it from me, you meet a lot of people in college. Your engagement doesn't last (thank the Lord) and you move on. You meet someone else and they teach you more lessons than the old relationship ever could. To protect identities in this story I just won't refer to them by name. The names aren't important anyway. 

          Love is a funny emotion and you don't ever REALLY understand it for the first time until the end of your freshman year in college and even at that point, you don't even realize you're in it. Boy Number 1 is just that...a boy. An immature boy. He's the guy you meet after being engaged and after the roller coaster that was he puts you back together and for a long time you're happy and then one day you aren't. And for reasons that God only knows, you leave. You have a small fling over the summer (THAT YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE. DON'T DO IT) and then you realize that you really do love Boy Number 1 (even though I wish you had just cut your losses and moved on) and you go on back to him. From that point on it's ponies and sunshine...

Until March. 

          He cheats on you. I'm sure that's a slap in the face, huh? This is not the first time someone has cheated on you but it's the first you know about at the time and it's the only time you know of from him (at that point). But you loved him so you stayed and tried to make it work. Too bad it doesn't and he leaves you making you look like a gullible fool. So for the next summer you live in Danville, away from home, building yourself up, working, and making new friends. You even date Boy Number Two who to this day is one of your dearest and closest friends. He makes you realize that you aren't someone that people can walk all over and to be honest, you don't really see the truth in his words for a long time. But he's the first guy to ever really show he cares whether he's with you or not...

          But your relationship with him is something we will have to cover in another post all together. 

          

          Anyway, I wish I could say that you never hear from Boy Number One ever again but that's not true. You hear from him like clock work almost, once every week to two weeks. He can't make up his mind and this is the part, Little Lindsey, where you have to be strong. You have to be your own person. You have to grow a backbone and stop wearing your heart on your sleeve. This is the point in time where you realize college will eat you alive if you don't straighten up and defend yourself. This is a turning point not only in college career...but in your life. 

          Somewhere along the line though you must have done something right at some point because then you meet Boy Number Three who changes your life. 

Third times the charm right?

Absolutely.

          So, after looking back at the very condensed version of what Love does to you, you have to realize that things are not as cut and dry as this sounds. I'm giving you a brief over view because I just want you to know that after all the pain and tears and anger and frustration you WILL encounter, things are going to be okay. There will be days where you just don't want to get out of bed. Days where you are so tired and emotionally drained that you feel like you could sleep your life away in a heart beat. Don't do it. You have to get up and show the world that no matter what emotions are warring inside of you that you are strong enough to handle it. 

          I wish I could go back and tell you no. I wish that I could stop this all from happening but you're going to experience it one way or another and this...this is just a warning I wish I could give and I know you would appreciate. But you're okay in the end. Just remember you have to be strong for yourself...or no one will. 

-LNL

photo credit: Shane Brogden