Friday, I'm In Love: There Are So Many Ways

Fall in love the way children do, in playgrounds and sandboxes, with dirt on your cheek and gum in your hair. This is who you are: you’re not combing your hair or washing your face or tucking your shirt in for anyone. Don’t apologize. Fall in love courageously, almost dangerously, with your cartwheels and roller coaster loops and swings pushed as high as they can go; fall in love brazenly, because your heart is young and has never been hurt before.

Fall in love carefully. Measure out your feelings: every risk should be calculated, every gesture contained. You are old enough to know that nothing is arbitrary, that there are reasons and repercussions—the before and after of following your heart. Think things through, and be patient when the answers don’t come right away. Be patient, too, when the answers don’t turn out to be the ones you were hoping for. Learn. Listen. Learn to listen.

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