Reminiscing on Romance

Recently a dear friend of mine found himself on the verge of a new love connection. He asked me for an appropriate song for his situation to which I quickly responded with several suitable tunes. While browsing through thousands of titles, a couple of songs from my past caught my eye and took me back to previous relationships and the nostalgia of "new love." I don't miss these past relationships- obviously there's a reason why I'm no longer in them, but I can still appreciate the emotions I experienced and the feelings I still get when I hear certain songs.

I was a late bloomer and didn't give my first kiss until I was 24. No, that's not a typo. I was picky and determined not to make out with any ol' Joe Shmoe. Reminiscing about it, I still get butterflies. I remember how giddy I felt after a phone call or chance encounter in the beginning. The awkwardness of that first date and praying I don't do anything to embarrass myself- that was torture. Then there were the heartaches and the one time I said "I love you" only to get nothing in return. Oh the pain!!! It came 2 weeks later but by then I had moved on- too afraid to get hurt and hating myself for putting everything out on the line. Ahhhhh... I wouldn't trade that for anything though at the time I just wanted to die. I set myself up for disaster after that, avoiding the kind of men that I knew I should date and went for the "bad boys." (Why do we do this to ourselves, girls??) Luckily, I wised up pretty quickly and this nice kid named Fernando suddenly popped into the picture.

I was 25 and skeptical- surely there had to be something wrong with him. He said all the right things and made all the right moves. He was a gentleman- an actual gentleman. For the first time, I felt like a queen. The poetry and sweet letters he would write for me set me soaring and in return I wrote song after song for and about him while sitting on that old porch where we shared our first dance. After nearly a month, he confessed what I had been waiting to hear all my life... he was in love with me. Sweet music to my ears! There's no way in the world I was ever going to say that to anyone without them saying it first and he took the pressure off. Oddly enough, I still couldn't say it in return. I felt it, but the words just wouldn't come out. He completely understood and asked that instead, whenever I wanted to tell him, just say "How bout them Yankees" and he would know.

I exclaimed my approval for the Yankees daily after that and a month to follow until voila... those three little words slipped from my lips suddenly and a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders. I said "I love you" and I knew it was safe. Safe was what I was looking for- someone I could trust entirely and know they would go out of their way not to hurt me. He makes me want to be a better person and for that, I'll never question what we have. We still dance to our song and recall the early days and events that lead up to our uniting. I'm absolutely convinced that everything happens for a reason- I tell myself that constantly. We both made sacrifices to be together and here we are, an amazing 6 years later which I find so hard to believe. We've had our ups and downs but our bond remains and the ability to fall more and more in love with each other continues.