Love Someone Like You're Five

Love someone like you're five. In art class, let her use your paint brush; smile as you watch her smoosh the colors on the paper. When it's snack time, ask her what animal fruit snack is her favorite; share with her and feel good about it, but make sure she doesn't eat all of yours because you like them as much as her. When it's nap time, save her a spot on the floor and help her lay out her mat; giggle together until the teacher shushes you to be quiet.

Love someone like you're eleven. Dance with her as she sings to Britney Spears; laugh and act like you know the words together; be oblivious to the real lyrics; blush when she grabs your hand and sings to you. Tell her that her yearbook picture is prettier than the most popular girls'; blush when she says the same to you. When you get in a single file line, look ahead of you to make sure she is there; feel your heart skip a beat when she looks back at you. Laugh and scream obnoxiously loud when running towards the swings; let her have first pick. When you are swinging, try to get in sync with her swing so that you will "be married", and hide your beat-red face when she acknowledges you as her "husband". Imagine your future. Get distracted.

Love someone like you're fourteen. Walk over to her house and watch a movie with she and her other neighbor; lie to her mom about your curfew; don't worry about getting in trouble by your parents because she is all you care about at the moment. When she asks to walk you home, feel safe. Feel loved. Remember when she giggly asked if she could kiss you earlier that day; hope to God that she didn't forget. Stand under the street lights, in the summer night; get butterflies when you feel her grab your hand; try not to blush. Blush. Feel your heart beat faster. As she jokingly yells at her friend to look away, wait for the kiss; as she turns around towards you and smiles, wait for her to lean in; close your eyes. Even though the kiss was short, you lose your breath. She takes your breath away. You think you love her, but feel silly because you know you are so young. You still think you love her.

Love someone like you're eighteen. High school created a barrier. You lost touch. As you walk into school, you see her and you remember when she kissed you and can feel the summer warmth on our skin; you remember the feeling, you daydream about the past. As the year goes by, you continue to think about her, but worry she doesn't remember you. You get jealous when you hear about her other guy friends. You think the worst and believe you two will never be together again. You try to move on. You don't know that she feels the same about you; she sees you and believes that you forgot about the past. She moves on while still wishing you would there to be with her. It's March. You both had to stay after school for various reasons. As you leave and head outside to the empty parking lot, you notice her car. You see her struggling to open the car door because of the ice. You think twice, but decide to go help her. As your almost there, she's just giving up. She sees you and acts like nothing is wrong. With a little tug, you pop the door open. You feel good. You feel strong. You feel needed. She thanks you and then asks how you've been doing. It feels a little awkward, but feels right. Just as you both are reminiscing about the past, her boyfriend pulls up in his car. She feels embarrassed. The moments over.

Love someone like you're twenty-three. It's been years. You've seen her a handful of times while home during summer breaks from college; every time you wanna rip your heart out because even though it's been years, you still think about her. Now college is over; you've both returned home. You see her for the first time. Your heart skips a beat. You go to the bar to meet a group of old high school friends; they weren't sure if you knew her and they introduce you to her. Your faces meet. Your heart skips a beat. She's just as beautiful as you remember. After everyone settles down and continues talking to one another, you walk towards each other. The background noise dies out as you look a her and say a simple 'Hi.' Everything feels right. The two of you stray away from the others and you buy her a drink. You talk about the days of when you were kids. You bring up the night she kissed you. Her face turns red because she is shocked that you remembered. She admits that she never stopped having feelings for you; you admit the same. The two of you are speechless and just stare at each other. The day after you exchange numbers, you call her and ask her out; she agrees.

Love someone like you're twenty-four. After dating for awhile, you want to say those three words. You remember the days of giving her your paint brush and your fruit snacks and cracking jokes and singing with her; you remember how good it made you feel to see her happy. You know she is happy and you realize you want to spend the rest of your life doing anything you can to make her happy. It's Christmas; you enjoy dinner with her and your family. After hours of talking and laughing, it's dark outside; she asks you to take her to her parents house down the street. As you head down the sidewalk into the empty street, you come to that street light. The street light gives you flashbacks of that night. As you think about that night, she brings it back up and you both laugh. Once you get to standing underneath the light, everything goes quiet; you get warm. It hits you like a train and you can no longer contain yourself. You immediately interrupt her talking and quietly say "I love you"....She doesn't say anything. All you can do is wait. After a few seconds of letting your words sink in, she looks at you with those beautiful eyes and softly says "I love you too". Before you can fully take in her response, she leans in towards you and kisses you like it was the last kiss you would share together. Again, she takes your breath away.

Love someone like you're thirty.The two of you have been married a few years now, and she still makes you blush. You have your first child together and it only makes you love her more. You help out with the baby as much as you can, not because you have to, but because you want to. You've come to respect her for everything she is and all that she does for you. You can't help but wake up everyday with a smile on your face. You still take her out on dates like when you first started seeing each other, and every night you kiss her like it's your last kiss.

Love someone like you're fifty. By this time, you have inherited your parents house; it's now your home. The kids are in college now and you are finally alone with her again. The house is rarely quiet because you keep each other laughing like when you first met. You like the same things, for the most part, because it makes her happy. You travel the world with her and feel comfortable where ever you are, because she is your home. She makes you feel like your the most important thing that's ever happened to her, and it's true. Every night you fall asleep together; she has your heart, you have hers.

Love someone like you're ninety. The kids are grown up and have children of their own. They have been raised on the love of their grandparents. That's true love. To this day, the kids know that street light. They now own the house in front of it. It continues to brighten up the night. You have spent every night in each others company, mesmerized by your shared love. Another year or two goes by; she passes away. Your heart is broken in a million pieces. After the funeral, you are given a note that she wrote before she passed. In the note, she explains that there is a box that she kept hidden that she now wants you to have. You arrive home and find the box. As you sit down and open it, you immediately burst into tears. You feel sad and joyful at the same time. After a minute or so, you pull out two objects; a paint brush and a pack of fruit snacks.

Love someone like you're five.