I Want To Fall In Love With Someone Who Makes Me Feel Young

There are so many requirements for love nowadays. Maybe not set in stone or written down on an official dating application (well, maybe for some crazy people), but we have expectations. There are certain ways this human must measure up before we give him or her our heart. And we even have dating apps, apps that limit people to a 1-2 sentence bio, basic details, and a photo. As if you can determine a potential S.O. from a tiny box on a phone screen.

I’m guilty, though. I’m guilty of feeling a person out by a checklist I have written in my head. I think of these little, specific things I want them to have or to be. I’m guilty of hoping that they’re perfect, even when I know that’s not realistic.

But the more and more I think about love, the more I’m leaning towards just saying f*ck it.

I mean, there’s no way you can find a Prince Charming in a world that’s messy. And that’s good. People won’t measure up to these ridiculous expectations, to these silly lists in our mind. But honestly, neither will we.

Love is complicated, yes. But it doesn’t have to be that complicated.

Sometimes all you need is a person who makes you feel a certain way, who makes you laugh, who treats you right, and who brings a smile to your face.

And when it comes down to it, all I really want is a person who makes me feel young.

I want to fall in love with someone who makes me feel young. Young, in the sense of uncontrollable laughter, young in the sense of appreciating the simple things, young in the way we will be silly and childish and celebrate each other, every single day.

I want someone who won’t always have to be responsible, won’t always have to be all business, won’t always have to walk the line or follow the rules.

Maybe we’ll go skinny dipping in a lake after dark. Maybe we’ll lick ice cream off each other’s fingers in public. Maybe we’ll get drunk on a week night and stay up late, telling each other our secrets.

Maybe we’ll make snow angels or roll down a big, grassy hill in the middle of summer. Maybe we’ll have squirt gun wars on the weekends. Maybe we’ll bounce on the giant superballs in the Target aisles or ride bikes around until we get yelled at.

Maybe we’ll roll the windows down and blast a throwback Blink 182 song from our middle school days. Maybe we’ll make a dinner of dinosaur chicken nuggets and fake drown them in barbeque sauce just because we’re feeling nostalgic and silly.

Maybe we won’t always have to be adults, adults that stress over bills and rent payments and insurance claims and budget sheets. Sure, we’ll still make sure we’re doing all those important things, but then we’ll go be children and swing on the park swings, go laser-tagging, or binge-watch cartoons.

It doesn’t really matter what we’re doing, as long as we’re together. And as long as he brings out the happy little kid in me.

See, I want to fall in love with someone who makes me feel young. Someone who makes me forget how scary it is to be an adult. Someone who shows me that sometimes you just have to let go, and live.

You don’t always have to have things planned out. You don’t always have to be mature and respectable. You don’t always have to do boring, adult things like sit with your legs crossed and talk about the weather.

Sometimes you can just celebrate being alive, being a human, being in love. Sometimes you can just be like a little kid again, seeing the best in everything and running around with a smile from ear-to-ear.

I want to fall in love with someone like that. Someone who makes me forget that the world can be big and frightening. Someone who reminds me that there is beauty in everything. Someone who shows me the world as a child would see it, celebrating every single day because it’s special, because I’m special, because what we have is special

And no matter how old we get, never lets me forget that.