All you could hear was the sound of our feet walking through the grainy sand and the serene waves crashing upon the beach. It is evening on the seventh of June and I am in love. I’m not quite sure how to describe it. I guess that’s just how love is: Indescribable. Amazing. Wondrous. Terrifying. Yes, I guess I did just describe it. But, the terrifying thing is that you’ll never know if it’s going to work out. That’s the scary thing about being a teenager in love.



Everyone, everyone meaning every single adult that hasn’t married their high school sweetheart, says that kids think they’re “in love” when they have a partner in their teenage years. Well, I beg to differ. To me, I think there are different types of love. Of course, there’s the sort of love that you feel towards your parents, your siblings, grandparents. Family love. Then there’s the love you feel towards your friends. Caring, always there for each other, ever listening for ways to keep them happy and for a chance to help.

Then there’s the love you feel towards that special someone. It feels like your heart is about to jump up out of your throat; it feels like there are butterflies in the pit of your stomach, fluttering all the while, just trying to break free. Love is the feeling you get when you in the arms of that one person and that place feels like home. It’s like your body was meant to be held by his. The scent of him is your favorite scent in the world. When you kiss him, it takes your breath away and you feel like you could stay there and kiss his soft lips forever.

This is how I feel with him. I will never forget the first day we met. I was on a mission trip and my colleagues and I were taking a break after a long day at work. I was building houses for those who lost theirs in the hurricane a couple years back. We were relaxing on the beach not far from where the building site was when I first spotted him. I was lying out on my green beach towel when I felt a Frisbee hit me leg. I sat upright with a start and glanced around until I saw the culprit.

He was running towards me with a worried look on his finely artisans sculpted face. He asked me, “Are you okay? I’m so terribly sorry miss, my friend misjudged the distance and he threw it a little too far. Is there anything I could do to make up for it?” Then, he lifted his face to look at me with his deep blue eyes, blue like the color of the ocean not too far away. I remember my eyes locking with his, never wavering, never leaving those fantastic shade of blue. I couldn’t make a coherent response; I was left speechless. Much like he still does today. This was this first time I ever loved someone.

This is what I was thinking about while walking along the beach front with him on this glorious day. The day we first met and how I knew right then that my life had completely changed for the better. He makes me a better person. He causes me to live for a purpose, to have faith in myself. I love him with all my heart. Sometimes, it feels as if my heart is too small to contain all of this feeling of love.

While holding his hand, he walked us over to the edge of the water and we waded in until the water was up to our knees. The water surprisingly was not cold but pleasantly warm. He let go of my hand for just a second to reach down into the water and grab something. My lover walked back over to me with a careful smile on his face, his eyes twinkling in the evening light of the setting sun. He reached for my hand again and in it he pressed a pure white seashell. I looked up at him questionably.

He chuckled and said, “My dearest love, don’t you see what this represents? This shell represents everything. It represents us. It’s a reminder of how we met, which was on this very beach; it’s a reminder of how our relationship is pure. This is a promise that we will stick together through thick and thin. I want to marry you one day, sweetheart. Yes, I know that we are young and a lot can happen between us, but I feel we can make this work if we put our minds to it.” He smiled at me at this last word and looked at me with such love in his eyes; I have no choice but to remain speechless. My tongue is being unruly and will not cooperate.

I looked at him with joy and tears in my eyes and did the only thing I could do; I kissed him. I kissed him with all the passion and love that my tiny little body could conjure up. We stayed like this for a long while and when we finally let go of each other, I pulled back and smiled. “Baby, I love you.” I said whole-heartedly. This was the first time I had ever said these amazing words to him and I have never felt so sure of anything in my life. I really did love him.

“I love you too..” He replied.

I put the white seashell in my pocket, took his hand and continued our walk down the beach; continued our walk to out future.