A Love Story

Yes, it's Valentine's Day, and this will be my 14th alone. Now, before anyone gets in an uproar, this is not going to be a post bashing Valentine's Day or love or romance. Quite the opposite actually. This is a love story. As a little girl I can remember looking forward to Valentine's Day. We all took our bags and proudly decorated them with construction paper hearts of red and pink, our name proudly written in the very center so as not to be missed when the valentines were dropped into the bag on that day in February. I can remember agonizing over giving just the right drugstore bought valentine to the boy I liked at the time. It couldn't say too much, but it had to say just enough that he might guess the way I felt and he might like me back too. I'd take that nearly busting bag  home and go through each valentine analyzing the signatures from the boys to see if anyone might reveal a crush by signing that tiny piece of thin cardboard with "love". Those were the days of simple innocence about the affairs of the heart.
By my high school days things were a little different. By age 16, I still had not dated anyone. I was living out the term "Sweet 16, never been kissed." That is not to say that I wasn't in love. I was!! I had fallen hard for a boy at school. Some would say it was a crush, but to me it was very real!!! I have always known exactly what I wanted, how I felt. I am very honest with myself and others. I do not play games, and lay all my cards on the table. This was not puppy love. I truly loved this boy and wanted more than anything for him to ask me out. I lived for any conversation we would have, any chance to be with him. He had no interest in me other than friendship. I refused to accept it, and held out hope. In the meantime I had a very good friend who also happened to be a guy, and ironically felt the same way about me as I did about my crush. We spent hours upon hours together talking, going to movies, out to dinner, the mall. I'm sure people thought we were a couple, but we were "just friends" This guy was a very talented songwriter, and I asked him to write me a song to sing to my crush. He did. When it came time for me to sing the song, he presented it to me. As I read the beautiful lyrics asking the listener to "read between the lines" to see what was right in front of their face, I realized those lyrics had been written not for me to sing to my crush but how the writer felt about me. I decided to open up my heart to new possibilities. Within a few days the writer and I began dating and spent many happy years together. Although the relationship didn't last "forever," it began as a romantic fairy tale, and I am so grateful for the love I experienced and shared. That love gave me the two most precious things in my life. When people experience loss, they are often asked if they could go back in time, would they change things knowing what they know now? Not a chance. For every step I have taken has lead me to  who I am today, and I can say with utmost confidence, I am very happy! Celebrate the love in your life, whether you have it now or you had it in the past. To have been loved and had the chance to give love is the greatest gift we are given.