Love: It can be one tricky thing to wrap your mind around and it's different for everyone. How you fall into it, how you fall out of it and everything in between. During my freshman year at UWEC one could say that I was having a hard time fitting into the college lifestyle. I wasn't a drinker and let's be honest, I was an introvert who liked his vinyl record collection. During my time "in my shell", I started to write to my future wife. It was a way for me to have someone to talk about my day with. I wrote to my future wife most nights until I started making more and more friends on campus and having someone to vent to wasn't necessarily needed anymore. Today I would like to share with you the first letter I wrote to my future wife and the most recent letter that I have written to her two years later. (Nicholas Sparks? I'm coming for ya.)

9-15-2014

Dear future wife,

I couldn’t help but laugh at myself today as I found myself sitting alone in the cafeteria eating supper and watching “Crazy. Stupid. Love.” I felt invisible to the world as I input the words I thought the actors characters in the movie were saying. I couldn’t hear the volume because of the surrounding chatter at the tables. I wish you were there to laugh with me or at me because of how much of a fool I must have looked like while eating my second bowl of Captain Crunch.

So how was your day? Mine was filled with a long day of classes and a lot of walks up the hill. Honey, I don’t know how many more times I can walk up that thing. I hope you had a great day. I can’t wait to see you.

Cheers! (as I raise my cup of hot chocolate)

So that was me my freshman year and just a side note, hot chocolate was my drink of choice back in the day.

9-16-2016

Dear Future Wife,

As I sit here at my kitchen table with a half empty bottle of wine and the dinner I made I am thinking about how much has changed since I started writing to you almost two years ago exactly. I have come to the realization that romantic comedy movie love doesn’t exist, otherwise I think I would be making dinner for two tonight. I’m not saying I have gone bitter about love, but there’s no movie out there that you can follow for a step-by-step process on finding your true love. It happens differently for everybody. You can make it try to happen all you want, but you can’t force someone to love you. I’m not going to lie, I have blown a few chances myself. I think I scare women away sometimes because I rush into things. It’s almost as though I am in love with the idea of falling in love. I just want things to happen right away, you know? When I talk to a girl I am interested in I already can picture us carving pumpkins together, having lazy movie nights with a bag of popcorn stuffed in between us, taking spontaneous road trips to God knows where, etc. If it turns out they aren’t interested in me, I get really bummed out because I feel as though I put everything I had into trying to get them to like me back. This is when I have realized that you just have to let love develop naturally. In time, those moments of bliss and adventure that I was talking about before will come. I want to thank you for letting me vent to you. When we finally find each other, I will let you vent to me all you want and I will always have an open ear and will give you my full attention…even during a Packers game. (Maybe :D) I hope you’re doing all right wherever you are.

Best Wishes,

There you have it. Love advice from a single guy. I don't know how much weight it holds, it's kind of like taking money advice from your broke uncle, but I think there's something there. If you are out there looking for "the one" like I am, just be patient. Love rushed is love lost.