Intro: Setting the Scene
It’s a bright balmy, Saturday afternoon. You’re on a date at the park and it is shaping up to be another great date like the last several you’ve had.
Lots of people are at the park today – living it up – without a care in the world. There are plenty of picnic tables spread with food and drinks. The smell of smoked meat is in the air. Children are everywhere playing and funning as hard as they can while familiar Ice Cream truck music plays in the distance.
He asks if you want to play catch with his football. You agree through a girlish giggle knowing you’ll be dropping the ball more than catching it. He tosses the it to you, and sure enough, it slips right through your fingers. While both of you laugh, he moves closer to you to give you a better opportunity to catch it, but not too close. He wants to challenge you to be a better catcher. You gradually get better, catching his passes. A big smile slides across his face as he walks towards you. He high fives you. You feel good.
You both decide to take a walk along the bike trail. That weird feeling in your gut comes back again – the one that makes you want to slow things down. Mentally checking out of the moment, you start thinking about how he seems to have it ALL together and you don’t. How could you possibly tell him that you are two payments behind on your car loan? You’re usually good with your finances, but by no fault of your own, you ended up here – in financial uncertainty. What would he think of me? You wonder.
He feels your distance. “What’s the matter?” He asks. Should you tell him or keep on keeping it to yourself? When you really think about it, it would feel so good to finally open up and step into realness about where your mind has been these past few weeks. You’d feel so free. But what if that freedom is at the risk of being judged or worse, losing him. All this negative energy was way too much. Plus, this can be a real growth experience, so why not take it! You decide to think positive and ‘do new’ for a change – so you do. You take a deep sigh and tell him everything – even why you didn’t tell him sooner.
He nods his head thinking you are even more brave and beautiful than he has ever seen you before. He thanks you for sharing, lets you know you can always feel free to talk to him, then offers to catch you up on your car payments.
Your heart feels gigantic – open and grateful to have shared this fragile moment with him. Feeling safe and encouraged, you don’t play it tough like you got this. Instead, you graciously accept his offer. Looking at him with soft, sincere eyes, you simply say, “Thank you.”
There’s something about the moment that makes him want to join in to share his thoughts. So many times, he tried pulling back because you touch places in his heart he’s never-ever felt before. It scares him – making him feel out of his element. There were plenty of times he didn’t know what to do, so he did nothing then wondered if it was the best move.
He shares everything with you. You’ve never seen him like this before – strong and defenseless at the same time. Gracefully tilting your head as you always do when your heart fills with compassion, you say, “Thank you so much for sharing. I’m glad you didn’t pull back.” Smiling and reaching to hug him, you say, “I love you.” Reaching to hug you, he says, “I love you too.”
What’s New?
Hey friends and fam! It’s so out of the norm for me writing a blog this way. But I enjoyed it. Beside blogging while participating in this Covid-19 Quarantine, I wanted to wrap up the Courage to Love series a bit different – so I stepped out of the box on this one. We all hear and see the bad things that go wrong in relationships, but what about the things that are good? I wanted focus on the ‘good things’ that help define what Love is?
Love It and List It
Let’s do something fun by using the Intro and life experiences to build a ‘Love Is’ list! You can write out a list and post it in the comments if you like.
Here’s a ‘Love Is’ list I started making:
- Friendship
- Compassion
- Laugher, having fun, and enjoying each other’s company
- Elevation, wanting to grow and becoming better
- Acceptance
- Sacrifice – Nothing says love like giving up something that’s valuable to you to make someone else’s life better
- Growing together – You’re getting to know the other person AND yourself better
- Vulnerability
- Embracing each other’s differences and finding them useful enough to compliment you
- Feeling good about me when I’m with you
Enjoy!