It was a super small detail and was quickly forgotten. This was December, my birthday month, and I forgot how or why it got brought up, but I said that I love to drive around and see Christmas lights because my parents used to bring me for my birthday every year. Later, we’re hanging around my apartment, and we’re just chatting. I’m like, well this isn’t gonna work! Anyway, we decide to get Chinese and I’m still a stupid wreck. He then decides to land it on me that he’s allergic to tomatoes. Well I suggest we go get Italian food because I know a really good restaurant. Ya know, that stupid, giddy nervous chatter. He comes over, and I’m crying internally because he’s gorgeous and I’m already acting stupid. He came over to my place and we were going to get dinner, and then watch a few episodes. We met online and we bonded over The West Wing. It was my first date with my current boyfriend. No one had ever just done something like that for me - especially a guy I was into. We were never together, then or after that, but I romanticized that so much in my 17-year-old head. He told me he knew I liked it and that’s why he ordered it. I opened it to find pineapple pizza and I just kinda stared at him. Well, about 45 minutes later, the pizza arrives and the guy says, “Hey, this one is yours” and hands me a box. I’m one of those weird ones whose favorite pizza is pineapple pizza, so my other friend made a comment saying, “We’re not ordering pineapple pizza!” even though I wasn’t going to ask for it since I knew no one else liked it. He insisted on paying for it even though I argued. One night we were all at my house for a movie night and getting ready to order pizza. Incidentally, I had crazy feelings for one of those four people. Right before going off to college, for about a year, I had this friend group of four people. I want to know this part of you.” Corrine, 19, Newport, KY I started explaining with my eyes glued to the ground and he stopped me and said, “Don’t look away. I just started crying, and Zach asked me why. It had the most painful, hateful things I have ever said about myself. Fast forward to me moving in with him and unpacking my stuff. I work two jobs and volunteer and have friends. I hate this term, but he’s only seen me as a “high functioning” depressed person. At that point I was in a decent place with my mental health. Because even though love may not be all we need, at times, it's enough to just keep going. So, with that, I sought out people to ask them about the most romantic thing someone has ever done for them, all in the the hopes of clinging to something good in the world, something special, emotional, ridiculous, and meaningful in the ways we show people that we love them. Love can also be a lot of things, but I’m not sure it can ever be talked about enough. Love is often on my mind and, frankly, I'd like to think I'm not bad at it. I like to dwell on the sweet and the silly and the thoughtful. I seek it everywhere - in my conversations, my books, my television. And as you embark on that journey, I think we could all do well to remember that we are inherently worthy and deserving of one life's greatest joys: love. Because it's in small moments like these that we gain the strength to carry on, hopefully to much brighter days. But I also believe that if you are alive, you should never stop seeking out that which makes you happy, which brings you joy or a sense of belonging or community. Waking up everyday and being so connected to the developments of the world, I’ve learned what a lot of people already know to be true: being alive is, at least right now, kind of terrifying, and because of how divided and scared and unaccepting a lot of the world has become, there is, I think, a lot of sadness in the world.
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