The Young and the Restless

They say that you remember your first love forever. Decades may pass since you were last sitting beside that person who inspired you to realize there was a part of your soul that was missing and could only be found in loving another.

It catches you by surprise. You walk beneath a flowering tree in spring and remember the afternoon you spent together, the window open, the scent of the petals drifting into the play room at the precise moment your hand first brushed his knee.

At first you were afraid. Minutes pass and the awkwardness only deepens, your sense of your possible misstep becomes all the more profound.

It seems as if you have no chance for happiness. You are destined to move only in parallel, always an arm's reach away but forever alone. Then he smiles.

All it takes is a smile. A smile changes everything.

A smile makes anything possible.

A smile makes everything that comes after seem as if it was always destined to be.

Before it has ended, you may walk all over each other.

There will be times when you do not always see eye to eye. You will forget his birthday. He will spend too much time talking with his friends.

But ultimately, you will never be able to forget him. The light will catch the puddles on the sidewalk at a certain time of day, the wagon wheels rattling across the pavement, the birds calling overhead, and his face will come back to you unbidden. Your heart will race and your lips will form his name.