Marisa Donnelly

Maybe you took her by surprise, suddenly coming into her life with feelings she’s not quite ready for. Maybe she just needs everything to slow down.

I traded my selfishness for the beat of your heart. I exchanged freedom for the feeling of your fingertips in mine. And I didn’t regret it one minute. I still don’t.

Because love isn’t about perfection. It’s about finding a person to share your broken heart with.

Being an addict doesn’t make a person any less of a person, any less of a beautiful beating heart in need of love.

In this world of half-love and fear of commitments, in this world of ‘just talking’ and having a ‘thing’ rather than dating, in this world of people skirting around their emotions—you are perfectly enough.

I don’t want to get lost in the taste of you; I want to get lost in your mind.

Maybe it doesn’t matter if we are two polar opposites, that we love so differently, and that we have different ways of thinking. Maybe what matters is that we love with all we have.

I want all the ways that you’re human—your sins, your inconsistencies, your fears, your failures. I want all of you, the real you, and I want to love you fully.

Engage in conversation with someone you just met.

You’re not unlovable just because your past relationships haven’t worked out. You’re not unlovable because the wrong person didn’t love you back or because you haven’t found ‘the one’ yet.

Family dinner was always a must. Everyone home at the same time, everyone talking about their days, everyone fighting over the dessert.

We can’t let what has happened to us destroy us and our futures. We can’t be limited by the ways we’ve been hurt, we’ve been let down, or the ways we’ve let ourselves down.

I want to know that I matter to you, too. That this matters. That a potential ‘us’ matters, and you aren’t just toying with my emotions.

If he hurt you, he doesn’t deserve you. It’s as simple as that.

Everything you do, he’ll find simply endearing—no matter how silly, or frustrating, or funny, or downright strange—he’ll love all the little things about you, because they make you, you.

You are going to have to face your demons. You are going to have to deal with people that bring you down. You are going to have to confront racism and sexism and just plain hatred, but you know what? You will continue to rise. Because you are strong. And you are loved.

Date a girl/guy that’s completely wrong for you. And learn what you deserve.

I want to figure out who you are and what you love, and maybe, just maybe, see if you could ever love me.