Romance movies always had a funny way of showing you how love worked.

I grew up around two younger sisters and a mom whose basic idea of love stemmed from the type of romance they found in a 75-minute long chick flick.

We would watch the classics in our living room, mountains of blankets spread across the floor as makeshift beds for the night and always, always a pile of junk food high enough to last multiple nights (my little sister always had the biggest sweet tooth).

But, it was always the same. A happily-ever-after that never really seemed real.

I never really understood it.

Instead, I think I fell in love with the idea of the temporary.

The idea that people were, more or less, disposable (not in a bad way, of course, I'd like to think it just was inevitable). The idea that no strings attached really meant no strings attached if you don't let your loose ends get caught up in theirs.

I found it easier to fill the voids with people who weren't "real", who didn't know who you were or where you came from, what your favorite color was or how you preferred your coffee black with nothing else.

It was the space that said more than enough and I reveled in the mere idea of not getting too close. It was easier to take the hands of strangers who didn't really expect much, who didn't ask the kinds of questions that left you vulnerable.

It was easier to forget.

If hearts were meant for breaking, I did so to my own every other weekend looking for solace in the arms of strangers.

Time always passed to reveal a new body to touch and explore. New eyes to look into, new arms to hold. Time also allowed a sense of security — over the years, I've come to learn that people always ended up leaving, no matter how long you've known them and how big of a part they had in your life.

I used to be best friends with people who I've known for years but end up as nothing more than strangers who hold a little piece of myself in their fingertips. I'd look back on pictures and memories and used to wonder where it all went wrong. I remember getting so angry (I never really knew if I was angry at myself, them or God) for loving these people just for them to leave.

And, then, there would be people I'd meet for a short while — a couple of weeks or months — that came into my life just for a quick afternoon visit.

But the thing was — the thing that took me years to understand — people were temporary and seemed to always have a tendency of leaving. I learned not to take it too personal anymore, it was just life.

Knowing meant it didn't hurt as much. And I think I liked it better that way.