Walking in Love
A choice we make every day
She didn’t fall in love with him. Falling insinuates some sort of surprise. An unexpected drop in which fear chokes your breath and eyes squeeze shut at the pain that will surely come when you finally land. She’d been hurt by falling before. Hurt her knees. Hurt her palms. Hurt her heart when she landed without anyone to catch her. She’s fallen in love before, she knows the pain that follows.
So, no, she didn’t fall in love with him.
She walked right in.
At first it was like sticking her toes in the ocean tide to check its warmth. They flirted easily, naturally, as if they were created solely for the purpose of pursing each other lightheartedly. The same way the tide pursues the shore.
Time passed and she found herself ankle deep in affection for him, looking out at the vast ocean of what their love could be, what they could be: never ending. She knew there would be waves of hardship along the way. She knew they would drift in and out. Yet, somehow, she knew they would always have each other. Through the waves and as they drifted, they would never let go of each other. She knew without fully knowing that he was worth it all.
So, she walked right in.
They called him crazy, told him not to rush headfirst into anything serious. But if you don’t rush at something constantly moving, you might miss it completely. He didn’t know much about love or life or even how two people can be perfectly made for each other and yet miss their chance, but he knew the way her eyes absorbed all the light in the world, as if she was both the sun and the moon and all the stars. He knew that her smile made his heart both stop completely and race wildly, as if even his very organs, the very thing keeping him alive, knew that inside her chest held the missing pieces of his soul. He knew he could miss his chance.
He wasn’t crazy. He was in love.
He wasn’t listening. He was diving headfirst into his attraction for her.
There was no slow and steady for him. There was only knowledge. The knowledge that he was in love with her. The knowledge that he’d dive into this with his whole being instead of risk losing her by being some idiot who waited around. The knowledge that she would be his wife one day. So, he dove in the same way you would dive into the ocean off a boat of safety.
He dove deep and risked it all in the rough waters of love to have his chance with her. He dove into the ocean of what their love could be: never ending. He knew there would be waves of hardship along the way. He knew they would drift in and out. Yet, somehow, he knew they would always have each other. Through the waves and as they drifted, they would never let go of each other. He knew without fully knowing that she was worth it all.
So, he dove right in.
Let’s continue the conversation:
What is your view on love? Do you think we fall in love, walk in love, dive in headfirst, or something else?
What has being in love meant to you?