Love.
I love a lot of things, I love a lot of people.
Freud would say my first love would be my mom or my dad or my brother if I had one.
(But that is just gross, and wrong. I mean I love my parents, and I don't have a brother. But seriously, nasty. Come on Freud, get a grip.)
I love Jesus, with everything that is in me and yet with not enough. But I that is probably not what this question is asking....
When I was 17, I got my dream job working as a junior counselor at Camp Westminster. [to prove this dream was real: when I was in the 4th grade I dressed up as a JC girl for Career day. That is a true story.] I went into that summer after having had only 1 "boyfriend" in the 7th grade... Sorry Beecher, but it doesn't really count. (It's okay, we're still friends). And I really had no intention of finding myself a "man" that summer. Whoops.
He was my camp crush when I was 15, my instant companion for the summer, and part of the Triumphant Trio. We, along with Jennifer Tucker, spent all of our free time together- even past the end of the Camping season. We mourned the end of summer and the distance that would creep, unwanted into our lives. Jennifer and I lived on opposite sides of Atlanta, and the boy, well, he lived in Budapest. That's right, Hungary.
We corresponded through Facebook messages, and weekly phone calls and before I knew it Thanksgiving had rolled around and my parents let their 17-year-old daughter fly halfway around the world to spend the week with the boy she liked, but was not yet her boyfriend. But they did, and I am thankful for that. 1. I got to go to Hungary, which was incredible. But more importantly 2. I spent the week with this boy and his incredible family, meeting his friends, exploring the city he loved and enjoying the company of this boy who was now my boyfriend. There was an innocence in our relationship. Not naivete, we understood that being in a "long distance relationship" was going to be difficult, but we were friends first. This "liking" had grown out of that, far greater than the summer spent together. I came home with a few more stamps in my passport and the heart of this boy.
I'll never know why our families let us have this grand, romantic, and Hollywood-esque adventure our senior year of high school. But I am forever grateful that they did. Because I look back on that week, and the months proceeding it with fondness. It is a season of my life that I doubt I will ever forget. I love those memories and I think, in my own innocent way, I loved him from the beginning. The love has transformed, it is no longer a cheesy-Hollywood love, and I am thankful for that. It makes the "beginning Love" unique and precious. We're growing and changing and the Lord is not done working in our lives so we are not yet fully sanctified (hallelujah) and until that day our love will continue to change and grow.
So my first love would be the boy from summer camp who captured my heart at 15 when I was a doe-eyed camper, again as an innocent JC girl, as an American curious in a foreign and unknown land.... and he still has it today. Here's to you Matt. Even though you thought I wasn't going to write about you... I love you.
I love a lot of things, I love a lot of people.
Freud would say my first love would be my mom or my dad or my brother if I had one.
(But that is just gross, and wrong. I mean I love my parents, and I don't have a brother. But seriously, nasty. Come on Freud, get a grip.)
I love Jesus, with everything that is in me and yet with not enough. But I that is probably not what this question is asking....
When I was 17, I got my dream job working as a junior counselor at Camp Westminster. [to prove this dream was real: when I was in the 4th grade I dressed up as a JC girl for Career day. That is a true story.] I went into that summer after having had only 1 "boyfriend" in the 7th grade... Sorry Beecher, but it doesn't really count. (It's okay, we're still friends). And I really had no intention of finding myself a "man" that summer. Whoops.
He was my camp crush when I was 15, my instant companion for the summer, and part of the Triumphant Trio. We, along with Jennifer Tucker, spent all of our free time together- even past the end of the Camping season. We mourned the end of summer and the distance that would creep, unwanted into our lives. Jennifer and I lived on opposite sides of Atlanta, and the boy, well, he lived in Budapest. That's right, Hungary.
We corresponded through Facebook messages, and weekly phone calls and before I knew it Thanksgiving had rolled around and my parents let their 17-year-old daughter fly halfway around the world to spend the week with the boy she liked, but was not yet her boyfriend. But they did, and I am thankful for that. 1. I got to go to Hungary, which was incredible. But more importantly 2. I spent the week with this boy and his incredible family, meeting his friends, exploring the city he loved and enjoying the company of this boy who was now my boyfriend. There was an innocence in our relationship. Not naivete, we understood that being in a "long distance relationship" was going to be difficult, but we were friends first. This "liking" had grown out of that, far greater than the summer spent together. I came home with a few more stamps in my passport and the heart of this boy.
I'll never know why our families let us have this grand, romantic, and Hollywood-esque adventure our senior year of high school. But I am forever grateful that they did. Because I look back on that week, and the months proceeding it with fondness. It is a season of my life that I doubt I will ever forget. I love those memories and I think, in my own innocent way, I loved him from the beginning. The love has transformed, it is no longer a cheesy-Hollywood love, and I am thankful for that. It makes the "beginning Love" unique and precious. We're growing and changing and the Lord is not done working in our lives so we are not yet fully sanctified (hallelujah) and until that day our love will continue to change and grow.
So my first love would be the boy from summer camp who captured my heart at 15 when I was a doe-eyed camper, again as an innocent JC girl, as an American curious in a foreign and unknown land.... and he still has it today. Here's to you Matt. Even though you thought I wasn't going to write about you... I love you.
Love is great. I'm so glad God created humans male and female. Can I get a witness? Oh, and you're quite the writer yourself, Crystal!
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