It's been ten years since I wrote the original "Just a Crush, or True Love?" essay for my freshman English class in high school. It was in 1999 that I simply tried to define what "true love" is: as a teenager I pieced together a rough academic definition of true love, a cold textbook definition if there ever was one: "True Love (n.) A consistent feeling towards someone else where they have the same feeling towards you in every possible way. Once you see and feel them, you NEVER want to be with anyone else." Suffice to say, I can now certainly argue with myself. "Never" want to be with anyone else? That was five girlfriends ago. I've loved before, for sure, but consider this: my average relationship lasts 8.2 months, and that average is heavily skewed upwards. An absolute condition such as "never" hardly applies to true love.
"Just a Crush, or True Love? 2" was a perfect, logical sequel. More of a personal reflection on my life at the time than an academic essay, I had begun to fall in love, and of course shared my enthusiasm with the written word, and that word was "Lacey." I came away from this second essay with high spirits and an expectations that anything could happen, because for me at the time, the impossible was certainly happening: the girl I dreamed about returned that affection, and nothing could get me down.
While I was supposed to let the "Just a Crush, or True Love?" essays die, I plodded onwards with a third installment. After taking the opinions and advice from my peers in high school on subjects relating to love, I compiled an essay that read like one giant snapshot of what love is like in high school: confounding, intriguing, interesting, and always entertaining. How could love be entertaining?
That's what "Just a Crush, or True Love? 4" looked to answer, and I took a break from writing a PG-themed essay series to dive into the naughty and necessary: sex. The fourth essay in the series focused heavily on what I considered to be useful sex techniques, and a modern view on the subject as seen from my teenager eyes at the time. My opinions and technique have certainly evolved since then.
I visited the series once more in 2003 - five years after the first essay - to wrap it up with a nostalgic tone, a reflection on all the growing up that I did throughout high school. I focused considerably on the girls that influenced my love life during those four years, but ultimately I brought the responsibility of maturing on myself: true love is not an easily definable thing, and I ultimately closed out the series with a new definition of true love: Any meaningful relationship that extends past the boundaries of two lovers, any relationship where two people don't just care about each other, but they care for each other.
My ideas on true love have changed quite a bit in the last six years. Welcome to 2009, and welcome to the rebirth of the Just a Crush, or True Love? series.
Just a Crush, or True Love? 6
Enjoy.
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