Dear First Love,

As I sit here and write you this letter there is one thing I must come to grips with. No matter how I hard I try or how much I desire it to be differently this letter can never fully encapsulate what you meant and what you continue to mean to me. You helped shape who I have become and I’m writing to you now because I feel I owe it to you. When we were dating and I began falling for you I had no idea that you would have such a profound impact on my life but, I’m glad you left the impression you did. You will always be my first love and honestly, I’m glad you were.

You showed me the importance of patience and that those relationships that are worth being in take time to cultivate. We were friends for years before you finally agreed to go out with me and at the time I viewed those two years as friends as wasted time. But now that I look back on our relationship I’ve realized that those 2 years we spent as friends formed the foundation of our romantic relationship. You weren’t just the girl I loved, you were my best friend and ultimately I think that’s why you were so special. Great relationships take time and they don’t just happen overnight, sometimes you just have to wait and put in your time.

Honestly, currently a lot of my favorite things were things you introduced me to while we were dating. I remember our first sushi date together pretty vividly. You helped me pick out rolls that weren’t too “advanced” which ultimately lead to you just ordering for me. Plus, you only made fun of me for never having eaten sushi before for about half the night which was pretty considerate of you. One of my biggest takeaways from dating you was all of the new experiences I had with you. Each day we were together was an adventure, to say the least, and I learned of things that I otherwise would have been clueless about.

You showed me that being myself was okay. In other relationships, I felt like I had to hide bits and pieces of myself from the person I was with. When I was with you I was nothing but myself and when I wasn’t being true to myself you knew. I was able to open up to you and that gave me the confidence to open up to other people around me. You never judged me no matter how nerdy I became when I was around you. You let me show you who I really was and you loved me even more for it. You allowed me to find who I truly am.

Lastly and more important than anything else is that you showed me how to love someone else. Before I had met you I thought I knew what love was. I mean it’s a simple concept, right? It’s just a bunch of chemical responses in the brain. Scientifically speaking I remained correct but, in reality, before I met you I had no idea what loving someone truly meant. I can never thank you enough for showing me that.

So to sum everything up, you influenced a big part of who I am today. You were my best friend, my girlfriend, and my first love. Now even though only two of those things still remain true today, I’m glad I had the chance to date you.

Sincerely,

That kid who you met in that LPS program 6 years ago.

On a side note, if you could maybe read this to Kiwi that’d be great. Maybe she’ll stop trying to peck my eyes out every time I come over.