An open letter to my first love,

First off I want to say thank you for the most amazing two years of my life. In the two years that we were together, I learned a lot about myself. You showed me what being in a relationship is really like.You have taught me so much in those two years as well. You taught me that my true self is beautiful and that I should never settle for less. You will forever hold a special place in my heart.

We were the typical high school couple. I was the cheerleader and you were the football player. It was sort of like a movie. We had it perfect. We spent every moment together like we were an old married couple. We were there for each other no matter what. We stuck up for each other all the time and we supported each other's decisions.

We literally did everything together. Every Halloween, we would have a scary movie night at my house, every Christmas we would get an ornament with our names on it, and every Valentine's Day we would go on some sort of fancy dinner. We were just always together. I miss our little traditions.

I can remember our first kiss, first date, and first prom together like it was yesterday. These memories are so vivid in my mind because they were so significant to me. Introducing you to my dad was another significant memory because I was scared out of my mind. My whole family loved you and I got extremely close to your family.

Of course, all good things must come to an end. I felt the end coming after we graduated high school. We were constantly after each other for littlest things and I could feel you start to fall out of love with me. I started to cry before you even said those magic words. You picked me up from my summer job and we drove to an empty parking lot across from my house.

"I don't think we should continue this relationship." My eyes were already filled with tears because I felt this coming all week. It just felt like a really bad nightmare coming true. Our break up was one of my worse fears and now that it was actually happening, the pain felt unbearable. We hugged and kissed one last time before we said the final goodbye.

After you left my life, every little thing reminded me of you. I didn't go to the movies for months, I couldn't watch basketball on TV because that was your favorite sport, and I would drive a different way to work so that I wouldn't have to pass your house. When I lost you, I lost not only my boyfriend but my best friend. We had an inseparable bond since sophomore year. I thought nothing could get between us. When people ask me "What happened?" I give the same answer: "Life happened."

I thought that our future was bright but not everything goes exactly as planned. I pictured my dad walking me down the aisle and handing me over to you. I pictured us having our own home one day and raising a family together. Our fairy tale was just a fairy tale.

Even though our break up was so painful, I want to thank you for giving me that experience. The break up put me through an identity crisis because I was always identifying myself as your girlfriend and never as just myself. When I was finally just me, it made me feel things that I had never felt before. I was angry, sad, and happy during that experience. I was confused as to why God had taken you out of my life but then I started to remind myself that everything happens for a reason. I was finally able to discover myself.

One day when we cross paths again you'll probably be in a new content relationship. I want the next girl that you choose to love to know that they are very lucky to have you. I'm sure that you will find someone just as amazing as you. Thank you for being my first love. Heartbreak is so unfortunate, but I think of it as if we're just one step closer to the person who you will spend forever with.

I genuinely have so much love for you. You deserve the world. I hope that life gives you everything that you hope for. I sit here four months after our break up and I still think of how everything used to be between us and wonder what could have went wrong. The truth is, nothing went wrong. We were just in two different places and this happens to a lot of high school relationships.

Once again, thank you for this experience. You helped shape me into the person I am today, which is the absolute best version of myself! Thank you for loving me when I didn't love myself, thank you for the memories that will last me a life time, and lastly, thank you for teaching me that I'm stronger than I think.