My past relationships were rough. I truly thought I was happy with those people but I wasn't. Those past relationships were mentally draining and it still drains me to think about it. I look back at them and I think, "Why did I let someone treat me in that way?" Going through those relationships put me in a very dark place. The saying "hurt people, hurt people," runs through my mind when I think about this time. I was so hurt by these people that the new people that came into my life ended up in the same position that I was. I was hateful. Very hateful. I hated everyone and everything around me. I barely wanted to get out of bed and when I did I was mean. I hurt people's hearts during that time. I guess I was the female version of a "fuckboy" as teens would say.

But I met someone. This someone has changed me in so many ways. She has taught me that love is totally worth it. Honestly, it is the best feeling in the world knowing that someone loves me as much as I love them. She taught me that love is not complicated, and it shouldn't hurt. She taught me that I should not feel bad for wanting to hangout with my friends, unlike my other relationships. She also taught me that it is normal for your significant other to bring you ice cream when you had a bad day. I am beyond grateful and thankful to have reconnected with her. At this point, I could not imagine my life without her.

My true love and I knew each other more in middle school. We stood outside waiting for our parents to pick us up from school every day in 7th grade. When it was time to venture to separate high schools, which was 8th grade in Warren County at the time, we stopped talking. I literally thought she fell off the face of the planet. Skip forward four years to our senior year, we reconnected through a friend, and I immediately decided that I wanted to know more about her.

Let me just tell you the first date was one for the books. It was classy, like we were in an old movie where someone just calls someone up and they kind of say, "Hey, let's get dinner and see a movie tonight. I'll pick you up at 6." But that is exactly how it went.

After that date, I realized that she is the one. I realized that there is no one better than her. I realized that this feeling that I felt, was that one that is described as, "if you know, you know". People always talked about that feeling but I had never felt it until that night while we were watching "Truth or Dare" at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and I turned and looked at her but she was already looking at me. That was the moment. It was like in a movie, when the main characters kiss and fireworks fly, that is what it felt like but we were just looking at each other. It was an incredible feeling.

Finding your true love relieves so much stress. Now that I have her, I want to get out of bed in the morning. I want to go to work and to school. I strive to be a better person because I know I have to be the best person for her. I just hope that everyone feels the feeling "if you know, you know."

Because if you do, you'll understand what true love is.

Jordan Heberle

Holly Breeden