young love
yeah yeah, what a joke. laugh it up.
so cute, men. giggle giggle. so sweet and naive. so you’re…in love? seriously?
er, yes. so?
oh, darling. you’re so young. you can’t be…serious! they address seriousness like it’s a disease. only, they have no idea how serious i am. and what has being young got to do with it? if at all, that should make it all the more understandable…
yes, very serious.
that’s what we all said, at that age. there we go again. ‘that’ age. ‘what’ age, exactly? this is so unfair. it’s offensive and tactless; what do they know?
what age? i’m old enough to know, i think. and i’m not a baby. i’ve been there, done that. i know enough.
that’s what you think. i think it’s safe to assume that…this will only last awhile. that’s nothing to be upset about. you’ll…move on. you’re both so young, after all! oh you damn pessimists. have you forgotten what it was like to be young?
you were young once. you must have some memory of being in love and believing completely that it was meant to be forever.
oh, yes! of course. we all thought that, didn’t we? giggle giggle. but you must never make the same mistake. explore…your options, darling. yeah, i ‘explore’ my options and you’ll call me a slut, i decide he’s the one and you’ll call me naive. what can i do?
well, it’s not like i haven’t, you know. just because i’m young it doesn’t mean i don’t know anything about life. it doesn’t mean my feelings are any less real or should be taken any less seriously.
of course not. yes, you’re very right. we believe you about how you…say you feel. oh, we believe you. mutter mutter. in love. really. how preposterous!
stop it! stop patronizing me! i know it. i’ve known it before, and i know it now. surely, that’s good enough. you can laugh all you want, but if i could remind you of all the times you were young and in love, then you’d cringe. you’d cringe at the memory of how deeply you felt everything, of how internal it all was. you’d cringe at the amount of times you’d yelled at adults to take your feelings seriously. so, yes, maybe this is naive. but let me be, then. you were once, too. this is my time. my turn. it is so like age to make you feel so weary about the reckless things in life. people grow up and forget what it is to be alert, sentimental, what it is to be consumed by how you feel and pursue your dreams even stupidly. people grow old and forget idealism and dreams and what is it to want something more than anything else in the world. age should enhance these things, not take away the excitement for it. time should teach you experience, not take away the desire for it. wisdom should understand youth more, not underestimate its conviction.
you’re older than me: that’s all. it’s just age. don’t be fooled into thinking it makes you smarter or that you know everything about life. you don’t. you never will, none of us ever will. you only know more. significantly more, true, but that’s all. there’s nothing about you that i won’t be one day. i’d have made the same mistakes and learnt the same lessons. after all, what better time for that than when one is young? let me have this, please. and don’t tell me i’m being silly, because really? i don’t care.
My advice… enjoy it, revel in it, give it everything you’ve got, you don’t get many chances to be with someone who truly makes you ridiculously happy… it’s all part of who you become. What’s the point of this existence if once in while we can’t just throw oursleves into something that makes us smile (and I’m talking about that cheesy, toothy, ‘I don’t care if I look like a moron’ smile)… not everyone gets a shot at it so give it your all as long as doing so makes you happy.
Personally I think love is something that defies a label… I mean it’s impossible to quantify and really labelling it as one thing or another is a futile exercise… I mean how do you assign a label to something that is this intensely personal anyway?
Electra …Chances are we’ll all get a bit more conservative as we grow older and I guess seeing you like this makes those older than you re-live truly cringeworthy moments, and they are cringeworthy… it’s just that to you it doesn’t matter… and that I guess is what counts in the end.
The only other piece of advice I can give you is this… be patient with others who ridicule or patronise you, most are just looking out for you because they know how badly it hurts when things go bad (and I am not suggesting that in your case it will) and they don’t want to see you get hurt … but love is a mistake worth making so enjoy it.. it’s your life after all.
Comment by T — October 17, 2006 @ 7:24 am
aw. hallelujah.
Comment by electra — October 17, 2006 @ 8:57 am
Let others say whatever they say. You don’t have to die over them? You should be able to decide what’s rational and what’s not. After all ‘i’m not a baby’, am i ??
Comment by Nirmal — October 18, 2006 @ 4:08 am
Chillaxxx….It’s just how life is…Time will pass soon, and they will understand..
Comment by Yanik — October 18, 2006 @ 4:33 pm
Time washes over people leaving them bitter, sad, weary. the progression is often too fast to see it, taste it, or learn anything worthwhile from it. often all thats left at the end is regret and longing for things that have passed by. let them be. now its your turn to love with complete abandon and literally ache from happiness. now its your turn to fall asleep with a smile,in his arms, and dream. this, as you say, is your time. hug it, embrace it, kiss it. one day, maybe, they will remember and you can laugh together at the insignificance of it all…
Comment by k — October 19, 2006 @ 9:10 pm
reading ur post made me relive the memories of the days i was in ‘love’ when i was in my late teens early 20s and as T said some of those memories made me cringe
i probably wouldn’t have changed many of them anyway… all a part of the learning curve in life.
Comment by savi3 — October 19, 2006 @ 10:44 pm
Electra, I loved reading this post. It brought back a lot of memories of feelings, which for a split second cut through the jadedness, if there is such a word. Thank you.
Comment by Ravana — October 20, 2006 @ 2:31 pm