When I Was 13

I was going from 8th Grade to High School that year.
From one state to the next.
From one parent to the other.
It was a tough year.

So much happened that year. All before I started school! There was so much about my 13th year to remember.


(This is actually my SR pic, but I couldn't find a good quick one of 13)

But my favorite memory? My "first love".

He was THAT BOY! The one I got up and went to school for. The one I planned all my clothes out for. The one who when he walked down the hall, all of our heads turned. But I loved him! For 4 solid years. I had boyfriends on and off, but him...I still loved.

Then at one point during my Senior summer...he called me. Out of the blue. Asked me on a date.

WHAT!!??!? HIM!?!??! ME!?!??!?! Heck yes!!!!

So we went out.

And I. Was. MISERABLE! And Oh so heartbroken. My "First Love". The boy who had my heart for 4 years had broken it in a 3.5 hour timespan. Sure, I still dated him on and off, I mean...he was everything I had ever wanted, right?

13. So much happened that year to make me the person that I am today. And one of those things? I learned that I had no clue what "love" really was.

Today, 13 means something completely different.


(1997)

Today I have been married for 13 years.
For 13 years I walked beside this man who encourages me.
For 13 years I have lived with this man who has seen the ugly of me.
For 13 years I have watched him still somehow see the beauty in me.
For 13 years I have danced life with this man.
For 13 years I have set up Ebenezer stones with this man.
For 13 years I have cried with this man.
For 13 years I have laughed with this man.
For 13 years I have planned a future with this man.
For 13 years I have changed right before this man.
For 13 years this man has had me on a pedestal.
For 13 years I have let him down.
For 13 years I have lifted him up.
For 13 years we have grown up together.
For 13 years I have been learning what love really is.

I can now say when I was "13"...


I am beside my Real First Love.