Love

I'm a romantic who believes that the right person for you will one day walk around the corner from nowhere and you will fall in love at first sight.  It didn't happen that way to me but I still believe in it.

I wasn't impressed with Dennis the first time I laid eyes on him because he happened to be drunk.  How was I to know that he rarely drank at all??  Then his brother, who I'd known for a while, asked me out on a Good Friday hike.  I agreed to go if my girlfriend, Eleanor, could also go.  

Dennis somehow arranged that I'd be sitting next to him in the car and I thought he was pretty cute...quiet and gentle was my first impression (actually second impression because the first time I saw him he was quiet, gentle, and drunk).

I spent most of the hike with Dennis without a thought to his brother and that might seem cold but I was 15 years old and girls that age don't usually consider the feelings of boys.  For the next few days, Dennis and his friend, Bill, started hanging out with me and Eleanor and, because Dennis was so quiet, I wasn't sure which one of us he liked.  It turned out to be me and I fell in love with the intensity of a 15 year old.

Looking back, I understand why teens get into so much trouble because their feelings are so intense.  They haven't the maturity to modulate those feelings so they jump into them full bore.  

I remember dozens of things I didn't like about Dennis but, in my immaturity, I believed I could change him to be what I preferred.  Of course that didn't happen but how was I to know?

Love is a strange and beautiful thing and guides the human race more than any other emotion.