A time I felt really loved was actually the first time Jacob asked me to date him exclusively. I had come from a lot of abuse, past conflict, and issues. I didn't think I believed in love and relationships again.
He insisted that we go out for frozen yogurt after I got out of a really late class. We had gotten touchy-feely for the first time the night before, and we had been friends for so long that I thought he was going to tell me off. Instead, when we met up, he said "Hey we got touchy-feely last night. I just wanted to talk about it tonight. Are you ready to date exclusively?" I said 'okay,' but it wasn't quite okay.
I hadn't opened up about how I had been abused, divorced, really mistreated. I had a lot of baggage and scars and I didn't really know if I believed in love again. I went through all of it (He now refers to this as the 2 hours I tried to talk him out of dating me.). I just sat there crying and sharing all the deep dark secrets. He just sat there, put his arms around me and just listened. When I was done I said "So that's why you don't want to date me."
He just gave me a hug and said, "Ok. You didn't answer my question. Do you want to date exclusively?" I said, "You don't care about all of that stuff?!"
And he said, " My dad's been divorced and remarried. Everyone told my mom not to marry him, and they are so happy and have 10 kids together. My best friend married an older woman with 2 kids, and everyone said that was a bad idea, and they are super happy. I've learned that love isn't defined by past experiences. So there you go. I don't care. Do you want to date exclusively?" Ever since then, I've known what kind of person he is.
Pentax 645n - 400TX+2 - Find Lab
Welcome to the Love Project. I give someone 3 prompts to choose from (all relating to love), they answer one prompt, and I photograph them (with b&w film) while they answer. Come back every week for a new story of love. If you would like to participate in this project, and I really hope you do, then email me at photographyhill@gmail.com to set something up.