#Thread #mushfollows
To all the girls I have loved ever,

I have loved you for your soul-searching eyes that looked into mine and instantly knew when something was wrong with me. Ones that spoke volumes with just a flicker, and were full of tales untold, words unspoken.

I have loved you for the way your fingers fit right into mine, as we walked around for God knows how long. The way they tugged innocently whenever we passed by an icecream stall, or held on dreamily when we saw kids playing around.

I have loved you for the endless conversations we have had, with absolute disregard for the clock as it ticked away, when the horizon turned from an inky black to a pale orange but the words still flowed like they had just begun to.

I have loved you for the way your smile bubbled to the surface, seeking to mask the many pains hidden underneath, trying to balance the fossilised grief and the fresh harvest of happiness. Effortlessly travelling from the mind to the eyes, like it was always meant to.

I have loved you for the way you let tears flow on the beach, unmindful of the world around, almost as if it didn't exist. Just you talking to the sea, about a shared destiny of the calm exterior masking a storm within.

I have loved you for the way the innocent child in you played with a streak of madness firmly making its presence felt, walking the thin line between childish and child-like. Falling down on either side of the line, getting up and getting on like nothing happened.

I have loved you for the steely resolve you showed when you had all reasons to let your eyes flow, and you didn't. Your dreams were on the brink of being snuffed out, failure seemed to be a step away. It was only human to cry, and yet you almost managed not to.

I have loved you for not only what you meant to me, but also for what you taught me. I wouldn't have been as wise as I am, if I hadn't loved you. I'm not perfect, my love hasn't been so either. I have loved, I have learnt, I have tried to be better, to love better.

Who knows if I will love again? I don't know sure. I hope I will. What I do know for sure that if I will, it will make me a better person. Someone more loving, more observant, unafraid to love again, and again, as many times as it takes, to love truly yet again.

Equally (actually, more) importantly, there have been those I have loved without falling in love with them. This is vital because for a long time in the past, love mostly meant romance for me. It has taken some significant unlearning to reach where I am today, emotionally.

This has been essential to my being a better, more balanced person than I was, say 15 years ago. It has taught me to look at and love someone for what they are and what they mean to me, and not for what they look like on the surface. This is for those amazing girls.

I have loved you for the way you wear your heart on your sleeve, being so unapologetically yourself. Because you are aware of yourself, sometimes painfully so. Because when you look at yourself, you don't always like what you see, but you never deny what you see.

I have loved you for the way you care for those who you call your own. The way you will do anything it takes to make them smile, make them feel special, to light up their world with little skies of sunshine.

I have loved you for knowing that though things may not be perfect in the present, or even in the future, they can always be worked on. That though the shoulders will droop at times, they can and will rise to the challenges that life throws at you.

I have loved you for not being afraid of making the difficult choices and standing by them when it was possible to take the easy way out. You have been an example of strength and dedication to (an essentially laid back and lazy) me. That's something I will always love about you.

I have loved you for being the dark chocolate in a world which craves for fake sugary sweetness. Being scared of non-acceptance by those who you like/love, but yet staying true to yourself.

I have loved you for being brutally honest, at the risk of pushing away people that you want close to you. For being open about your flaws and mistakes, for wanting to be accepted for what you really are, not some projected personality to suit the tastes of those around you.

I have loved you for being a bubbly fountain of joy, yet being emotionally mature enough to know when something is wrong with your loved ones, and reaching out to make sure they are okay. For caring for people when you weren't mandated to. For spreading happiness wherever you go.

I have loved you all for what you have made me learn, and unlearn. For making me a much better person than what I was. Selfish reasons? Perhaps. I guess I'm not as unselfish as I look to be.

Bumped into this thread today. This will always be one of my better-written threads.