Today’s theme is “your first love.” No matter how old we are or how long ago it was when we first fell in love, we always remember our first love.  Share a story, a poem, a photo, a drawing, some music, or whatever you wish to share about your first love.

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My first love happened at fifteen years old. I was pretty naive at the time and thought he was Mr. Wonderful. That didn’t go so well. Mr. Wonderful delivered a great spiel about how he got another girl knocked up while we were supposedly dating exclusively. His closing line was I have to marry her but we can still get it on, on the side. Except his spiel was more painful than ever. I had found out that I also was pregnant. I never told him. My father threw me out of the house for being pregnant. So I hitch-hiked to my grandfathers and with his help I put my daughter up for adoption. She needed to be in a secure home we people that could take care of her, unlike me a child with a child.

My second attempt at love didn’t go much better. We dated for a year, he was really nice. But the monster showed up after we said I do. He was a jealous man and every time he drank became physically abusive. Oh the promises he made, but it would happen again and again. Once his children were old enough to notice, his drinking stopped but the verbal abuse continued. I stayed until my youngest left home and then kicked him to the curb. He really thought the judge would see things his way but a picture speaks a thousand words and the evidence was pretty clear. He retaliated by spreading so many stories but it didn’t matter.  The people who knew me, knew better and the ones that bought his malicious garbage really weren’t my friends.

My third and thankfully final attempt has been amazing. Maybe it’s because we’re older and wiser, or maybe we’re more accepting of each other’s differences I don’t know. I value Vic’s friendship immensely. We didn’t meet in the traditional way, we met in a writing group online. He dared to critique something I had written and sent it to me. Initially, I was furious to see all the red from revision tracking but once I calmed down and accepted the fact that yes, I did need help. Our friendship grew and over time we finally did meet in person. That evolved into long distance dating and finally in 2008 marriage. He’s still my best friend in addition to being my love.

Third time is the charm they say. I’m inclined to agree.

 

 

“As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly,

and then all at once.” ~ John Green