I hate when people promise me things and then don't follow through. It's not so much I care about what they promised but the fact that they MADE a promise and then broke it. Promises are more than little schoolyard pinky swears and whispers. They are bonds that strengthen relationships and with each promise broken, a tether snaps. A bond breaks and with each broken promise, two people who once cared deeply about one another can suddenly become total strangers.

And it's worse when these promises are made in the name of love.

I don't mean to come across as rigid. I understand that promises can be broken and I'm all for second chances and being patient and understanding but there is something about people promising me something that they KNOW they can't deliver that drives me up a wall.

Why would you promise something that you know you can't do? Why? I honestly don't understand.

Now, people will say, "Oh, so-and-so just wanted you to be happy so he promised you X, Y, and Z." OK... but did so-and-so not have enough sense to realize that I would expect her to follow through with that promise? I honestly don't understand how this can mean someone cares about you. She lies about things she knows you want, knowing she can't do it, and then when you ask about it, she has to cancel on you. Yeah, she has a valid reason since she's had that valid reason from the beginning but why make the promise in the first place? Why not tell me (before I got my hopes up) that you couldn't keep it?

This may seem like I'm getting a little too flustered over something that seems so surface-level trivial but, in my mind, people's actions are a reflection of how they see me. If they feel they have to lie to me instead of telling me the truth about something, how are they seeing me? Do they think I'm that cold and uncaring that I wouldn't be understanding about something? It's so easy to turn this into a what-did-I-do-wrong blame game.

But the truth and the matter is that both you and I do not deserve to be lied to. If this person claims to love us and care about us, they should know that we want the truth and that we will be patient and understanding with them. If they can't see that, is it really even love?