Do you remember?

(Warning. Mush alert. Read at your own risk)

The first time you felt a tingle down your spine at something he said that made you see him, well, differently?

The first time you realized that conversation with this person felt so, so essential. Like air. Or water. How going without it for too long could induce actual physical pain?

When you'd smile so much through conversations with this person that your cheeks would hurt, and in masochistic fashion, you'd always be asking for more ...

When you could finally fit your feelings into one of many popular stereotypes, and lame as it sounded, it just felt, well ... RIGHT at that point in time?

The first person you confided in about your *story* .... and how much you loved hearing it yourself?

Getting to know his friends, the genesis of his stories, stories that occurred when you weren't around, stories that make him who he is ...

All the firsts? From saying the words to holding hands, from encountering his first real flaw to the first (def not the last) fight that you eventually got past?

Your first holiday together? Walking around holding hands, sitting by the beach, savoring the feeling of being free and attached to someone, all in one...

Feeling comforted by not having to pretend. Not feeling afraid to be yourself around someone. Not holding back from displaying the eccentricities that make you YOU.

The thrill of getting him his 1st birthday gift from you ... and knowing it was only the 1st of many to come....

Being able to talk about inane illogical mad things that existed only in the world you two shared. Having your own private language. And knowing no one else would have it...

Thinking back then that you didn't ever want to forget how the present felt ... wondering if there was some way to preserve the feeling, to freeze time so you'd never have to ask yourself if you remembered.

Like you are now :-)


Edited to add: Kindly to not mistake this for a personal post. By and large, every one of us who's been in love ever, has felt all of the above, regardless of where the relationship finally went. That's all I was trying to say. And although this sounds as though from a woman's point of view, men aren't incapable of feeling this. Really. :-)