When I Was Sixteen

When I was sixteen, I lost my virginity to a boy who showed me that I too could be loved. He showed me that there are people in this world who truly do have good intentions and mean no harm. He showed me what it meant to be gentle with my heart as well as what a girl should be treated like on a daily basis. He made sure I always got home safe after school and after late night football games. He made sure to remind me how much he cared about me day in and out. He constantly left notes hidden in between my notebooks and regularly whispered sappy things into my ear. He loved to shower me with gifts to show his affection (even when I turned them down). He made sure I knew that he would respect me and that I could trust him. He made sure to never cross any lines physically and emotionally. Most importantly, he made sure to never hurt me in any form. Truth is, he made me his world, but to me he was nothing more than my first boyfriend. With his love I learned that you cannot force yourself to love someone no matter how strong their love for you is. One of my favorite John Green quotes is, “You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world, but you do have some say in who hurts you.” I’d like to believe that I was his choice. I hurt him because I couldn’t love him back no matter how strong his love was. In the end, I learned that sometimes we hurt good people without meaning to.