Love. The typical thought that comes to one's head when you hear the word could be a number of things. It could be the love for a family member or a pet, or maybe a favorite band or food. But the one that comes to most would be the love for a person who you care about and would spend the rest of your life with. Whether it be a best friend or partner, you love them no matter what. That person makes you feel better about yourself and you love being around them. For me, it took a while to truly understand what love meant, and what love was supposed to mean when looking for a partner.

When I was younger, I had assumed that all parents were soulmates, or meant to be together. I had thought that divorce was wrong, which could have been a result of my Catholic upbringing, and that who you marry is the person you're supposed to stay with for the rest of your life. That's what love was. Fast forward up to my junior and senior year of high school: I'm becoming more self aware and more aware of things and people around me. That's when the news hit me: My parents were getting a divorce. I wasn't shocked though. Over the years, though I tried my hardest to believe that husbands and wives are soulmates, destined to be together, but I knew deep down in my heart that it wasn't true. Sometimes you don't find the right person, or maybe, there is no right person at all and you have to stick with what you can get. That thought crushed me and it lingered in my mind. Maybe there was no one... maybe it was just a gamble and fate was just a fickle player. Hope was gone and I went through the rest of my time at school and during the summer with low expectations of finding someone. Of course, someone my age should probably be more focused on school, and I was, but I was lonely and honestly at a loss for meaning in just about everything.

Then college came. I was excited! Time to meet new friends and join groups and maybe even find someone to occasionally see or maybe even date. At this point, I didn't care about the dating pool. If someone appeared, I'd take the opportunity and scope it out. And during the first semester, I did meet some people!

And it was awful.

I had met a triage of many interesting possibilities. I met boys who were just that: boys. I met people that introduced me into fun groups of people, and most of the time I was met with disappointment. I gained and lost, but through the gains, I made some of the coolest friends through dating. But at that point, I had given up with the idea of dating completely. It was time to just go back home for winter break and relax. So I did. And it was nice.

When I came back to school, and as cringingly cliche as it sounds, everything changed. I met the person whom this article is written to and for. We met through mutual friends and honestly thought of each other as nothing more than just that: good pals who had a lot in common and laughed at terrible memes. The companionship of a good friend made everything seem brighter. They lifted my spirits when I was down, they accepted me for my flaws and quirks and they understood me as a person. Like any old fashion romance movie, I promised I would never fall for them, but we slowly but surely fell in love with each other. It was exactly like a storybook or a movie. Everything was perfect. They were perfect. Someone who encouraged me to go for my dreams, someone who took care of me when I couldn't do it myself, someone who was just a phone call away and would drop everything for me. And what made it better was it wasn't one sided, like it had been in my past. We both equally worked towards creating a healthy, safe, and fun dating environment for each other. When the other was down, we would come and help them. It was like nothing I'd ever experienced before in my dating life.

So this is a letter to the boy who wasn't a boy. It's to the boy who was a man. The man who took care of my when I was sick and could barely get out of bed. To the man who holds me when I cry and pushes me when I need to be. This is to the man who was my complete and utter equal, the man who I adore and would go to the ends of the earth for. When I was at a lost and completely gave up, you were there to change my mind. When I thought soulmates and fate were all just gibberish, we found each other. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. You have shown me what real love is: a respect and love for the one another that is far more unique than anything in this galaxy. And for that, I love you. Always and Forever.