Growing up, I often times daydreamed about love. Call this a result of all the princess movies I watched or all the Disney VHS tapes my parents kept on hand, but I couldn’t help myself. All the books I read had some love component, whether platonic or romantic, and all the stories I wrote had a little bit of love intertwined into the mix. Even if I wouldn’t admit it, much like everybody else out there, I was anxious to find love of my own.
I also took to asking my mother, quite frequent, how you know when you’ve found it. I was never quite satisfied with her answer of “wait for it and you will know when you have found it”, but I have to say she’s 1000% right. Love is not something to be hunted, not something to be fabricated, but something that must be harvested from the fields you forgot existed or perhaps overlooked. Now I know. But how do you know when you’ve found it?
When you first meet them, you’ll think nothing of it (even if perhaps they already hear wedding bells in their mind). You’ll smile and be kind, not even too flirty, but something about them will intrigue you. Maybe it’s the fact that they are not even trying to win you over, or that smile they give you when you compliment them, or how attentive they are to you. When you first meet them, you will have no idea.
Over time, as you get to know each other, you’ll know that there’s something there, but unsure just what it is. You’ll spend time chatting, laughing, and maybe flirting a little more than you think you are. You’ll look forward to talking to them, even if you talk about nothing really important.
You’ll get a feeling that it’s something special when you aren’t scared to open up to them. You share things with them that you’ve barely told anyone and you’re not worried how they will receive it. They slowly become you’re favorite person in the world to talk to, to spend time with, and you’ll know it’s becoming something more.
You’re done for when you begin to fantasize about doing the most mundane things with them. Somehow a trip to the grocery store for dinner supplies is one of your favorite things planned that day, because they are with you. You’ll daydream over cooking together in the kitchen and seeing them grin over at you, because there’s no one else you’d rather be with in that very moment, or in all other moments.
You’ll know you’ve found it when you’re looking at them during the simplest of moments and realize that when they are around, you feel at peace. Just hearing their voice qualms your worries, just being beside them is like taking a long, deep breath, and that’s when you’ll know. That’s when you’ll know you never want to let them go, because you’ve fallen in love.
