Merry Christmas!

thankful

rainbow

just love

credits to nostalgicbliss@tumblr

sweetness!

i haven't been feeling well since Wednesday.. my kids both have coughs and colds and i have also succumbed to sickness.. this morning, i wasn't supposed to go to work because i was really not feeling well, but i had to go to Kyle's school to get his report card and attend the monthly PTA meeting.

Kyle's doing well in school, but i've learned that he's starting to bully his closest friend, Reyster! (click the link to read more...)

anyway, as i was saying, i wasn't feeling well lately, and my hubby noticed my low energy at home. this morning, i didn't know that my husband arrived 5 minutes after i went out of the house.. while i was at Kyle's school, i didn't know that my husband was waiting outside the school gate, waiting, with a basket of fruits! since i am unaware of his visit, i didn't go out to see him.. (if you're wondering why he didn't text me, truth is his cellphone got lost last week and haven't bought a new one yet)

it was only when i arrived home tonight that i noticed two baskets of fruits on the table. my hubby was still sleeping.. my sons' yaya told me that my hubby waited for me outside the school and when i didn't come out, he went home again and specifically gave instructions that the 3 oranges and apples were for me, while the other basket with small oranges were for our sons..

awww.. my heart jumped upon knowing this.. how sweet of him to wait for me at school just to give me the fruits... now i'm munching an apple and couldn't help but smile because of his sweetness :)

colorful love

the power of love

A good relationship isn't a game you play or an ego trip you take. It is about love and two people. Loving someone can give us the greatest joy we can ever know and it can hurt more than we can believe too. When it does not really hurt when that person did something disappointing to you, but really hurts when you see that person in pain and sadness, then you know you truly love that person.

Loving someone means you should be ready to experience heartache and happiness at the same time. That's the reward and that's the risk. Unless we are willing to experience it, we will never really know what it's like to love and be loved.

Sharing love is probably the most valuable and meaningful experience a person can ever have. And there's a difference between being in love with someone and loving someone. It's the difference between a love that's fickle, wild and short-lived and one that's tender and passionate, nurturing and lasts a long time. The first is easy. The second, the one that really matters to all of us, takes work -- because it's about keeping a relationship.

Loving someone takes efforts. We have to be able to communicate with each other. Nobody can read anyone else's mind. We always presume that our partner knows what we think and feel. Maybe in time we might be able to predict or sense each other's thoughts but it's never perfect and takes time to develop.

Getting the chance to love and be loved by someone is blessed. Respect him/her for who he/she is, and not what you want him/her to be. Everyone is pretty and special in his/her own special way. No one is perfect. It is true love which closes the gap of imperfectness to form a smooth surface of acceptance for each other. True love sees and accepts a person for who he/she is. It is also true love which makes a person change for the better.

The power of true love to a person is undeniable.

A relationship needs commitments too. What is love without commitments from each other anyway? It's like principles and values. Everyone has them but they only mean as much as we are willing to stand for them.

The same goes for our commitments to relationships, and the person we love.

"Love is like an antique vase. It's hard to find, hard to get, but easy to break."

Every day everywhere, people fall in love ... but just how many of these relationships are self-sacrificing love, and not just relationships which are formed only for the intense feeling of falling in love? I know hundreds of friends who say the magical words "I love you"... but more often than not, the truth is just -- I am IN love with you. There is a difference between being in love with someone and loving someone. If a person says he/she is in love with you, he/she means that he/she likes you for who you are now and he/she fell in love with you because of the present you.

This kind of love is temporary and lasts only as long as the fairytale lasts. When fairy godmother comes in at midnight to whirl us back to reality, we see the heartache of such a relationship... where both were only IN love with each other.

But if a person says he/she loves you, he/she means that he/she loves you unconditionally for who you are now, who you were in the past and who you might be in the future. When he/she says he/she loves you and really means it, you have to ask yourself if you love him/her too or if you're in love with the idea of being in love. It is very hard to see the difference through logical thinking. Let your heart guide u. May you be blessed on your soul-searching journey for your soulmate.

i'll take u

not perfect

honey & me

hubby week

HUSBAND APPRECIATION WEEK:

If you have a husband who makes your life beautiful,interesting & fun who is your best friend,who has been with you through thick & thin & to whom you are proud to be married: copy and paste this into your status.

It's a great blessing from God to be the wife of Marc Anthony Santos

feel free to tag along, peeps :)

Happy Monday!

soulmates

life

too short

love...

enchanted moment

i was broken-hearted.. i told myself, it's never too late to fall in love again. after a serious relationship which ended in a heartbreak, i was so scared that i may no longer be able to find the right man for me. i thought my world would revolve around my work and my family and no one else.

then a young man crossed my path.. i called him Neo. i accidentally sent him an Instant Message (IM) at work, which was supposed to be sent to Anton.. through that IM, we became aquaintances, then friends.. a friend who treated me as an equal. a friend out of accident. a friend whom i had contact with whenever i had dilemmas. a friend and a co-worker.

a friend who professed his love to me, brought fruits when i got sick and serenaded me through the phone...

a friend who courted me, but got busted (i turned him down 4 times!)

and in the end, he won my heart.....

love began one enchanted day in Enchanted Kingdom... it happened August 8, 2004... after midnight... i was soaking wet in the swimming pool with a bevy of beauties. i was with my friends, my F4 friends where we held a birthday bash for Vanness and i was thrilled to have joined them in a resort somewhere in Calamba, Laguna.

it was 12:45 AM. When i saw my cell phone blinking rapidly from afar, i knew Neo was calling me. So i hurriedly swam across the pool and with wet hand, i grabbed my phone.

then i heard Neo's familiar husky yet silent voice.. the voice which sent shivers down my spine.. i giggled while i was talking to him, not minding the shouts and screams that my F4 colleagues were bursting out. i don't know why i felt that way whenever he called.. there was (& still is) something in him that makes my heart jump and my knees wobble. at any rate, my heart was pounding so fast that i almost forgot that i was headed to the balcony of the resort while i was clad in a skimpy two-piece swimsuit. good thing, i managed to compose myself and hid on a secluded area to be able to talk to him intimately.

the truth is, i was about to say the magic words when he professed his love for me. but i controlled myself and decided to tell him personally the next day the words he had longed to hear.

yes, i asked him if he was willing to take a leave of absence from work and meet me up in Laguna the next day.. (remember, he was in Pampanga at that time!) it was actually a test for him.. a test to check his love for me.. i didn't think he was up to it, but still, i hoped that he would meet me up in Enchanted Kingdom..(originally, my other friends - Bryan, Sarah Johnny & I) planned to go to Enchanted Kingdom) so i decided to bring Neo along..

i was weary and ecstatic and i couldn't sleep well that night. amidst the merrymaking of my F4 buddies, i laid awake almost the whole evening thinking of the event that will unfold the morning after. it was quarter to 4am when my eyes suddenly felt numb and heavy and sleepy.

5:45 am... my friend, Sien came up knocking on the door of our suites. i was up and about and got ready for the day ahead. i asked her if she could give me a lift going to Sta. Rosa Laguna so i can meet my other friends there. Luckily, she agreed. so at 7:30am, i was already at Jollibee and had breakfast with my friends. when they left me there, i played some games on my cellphone but i soon got tired.

i texted my friend, Bryan and told them that i'm gonna be at Waltermart where i was supposed to wait for him, sarah, jenny and johnny and of course, neo. i asked what time would they be arriving at our rendezvous and he said, they're most likely to meet me up at 11am... oh my! imagine, from 8 till 11am.. i had to wait up for them at 3 hours! grueling yet exciting.. somehow, it gave me enough time to ponder and re-examine myself if i was ready for the day.

at 10am, i entered watermart and headed to Expressions and a lovely greeting card caught my attention. i pulled it up from the card holder and i immediately bought a pen... silly romantic thoughts ran up my mind when went to the cashier's place. then i roamed around the department store area to check some items but i easily tired up. i didn't notice that time was running faster than i could imagine. the next thing i knew, neo texted me saying that they are already in sta.rosa exit. so i ran out of waltermart and waited for them outside McDo and texted jenny to join us.

it was raining cats and dogs when they arrived so i stayed inside the van and dried myself for a while. neo reserved the back seat for us which was convenient to me. i asked him to buy me a burger meal since i forgot to eat lunch. while he was gone, i started scribbling on the card that i bought and i was putting it back on my bag when he came back. we still had 30 minutes left (it was 11:30) and jenny was still not around. we went ahead to Enchanted Kingdom and prepared ourselves.

while bryan and sarah were busy canoodling in front of our seat, johnny went out and decided to wait for jenny at the entrance. at the back, i was kinda quiet, talking to neo about my evening at the F4 party. exactly, 12 noon, while he was looking at me, i whispered to his ear the three magic words... "i love you"... he was surprised and i could see a different kind of spark in his eyes when he heard me say that. i was taken aback when he kissed me on my cheek and gleefully said i love you too... oh my.. i'm getting mushy here... but it's how it happened and it's still vivid on my memory.. at 12pm, aug.8, 2004 - neo and i are officially called "a couple"..

after a few minutes, jenny arrived.. so we all we went outside the van, then i officially introduced neo to them as my boyfriend. i'm glad that they were all so happy for both of us. then off we went to Enchanted Kingdom..

neo and i spent all the time together.. from the Realto theater experience, to our first ride at Wheel of Fate.. i had fun riding the bump cars and felt the wind beneath my wings at the giant swing. the catterpillar ride was so romantic for me too. we ate our fave dominos pan pizza and cuddled each other while watching a sci-fi 4-dimensional film. i got so scared at the Space Shuttle ride that i forgot to open my eyes while rolling around the air and i could hardly breathe! we were tempted to try Anchors Aweigh but i declined since i felt that i might feel giddy and blow up! the last two rides we tried were the Jungle Log and Rio Grande Rapids where we all got wet! we saw our pictures taken and we would like to get a copy of those pics but we decided not to..

it was past 6pm when sarah and i went to the dressing area and changed clothes. we had a little chit-chat about our budding lovelife and i felt sad because she would soon go back home to her province in Davao. but we didn't want to spoil the fun so we just forgot all about it and headed back to the van and enjoyed the last hours together with our "other halfs".. along the way, Neo whispered sweet nothings and love-lines to my ears and i laid my head on his lap and cherished the moment we were together. somehow, the world stopped revolving around us and i just prayed that the special moment would continue for a lifetime.

and that's how our story started... it's been more than 6 years now and i'm happy because we stay strong together and we promise to keep what we had started out to last as long as forever...

happy anniversary honey!

moments

Being in love, i find myself smiling for no reason at all...

last night, i walked with my husband under my umbrella.. me & hubby walking under the rain with his arms around my shoulders brings a smile on my face..

simple moments like this is already a treasure for me..:)

you may think, being married makes the two of you together everyday.. but due to our work schedules, sometimes, we just see each other, talk a little, take care of the kids, then see each other off to work.. it's only on our rest days that we get to spend more quality time with each other...

so every minute of being with him is so valuable to me..

so everytime he volunteers to do stuffs in our house and let me rest, i can't help but let my heart melt in his goodness and sweetness..

so every time we see an opportunity to be together, just the two of us, we grab that moment as best as we can...

true love...

Just sharing some thoughts and lessons I learned from Nicholas Sparks' heart-warming novel...

Dear John:

What does true love mean?

Such a simple question, yet, I myself, am finding a hard time defining it. If this question was asked a decade ago, I might have answered the way I would have replied on a “slum book” – the kind of stuff that teenagers pass around and keep, to be able to know who might have a crush on them.

For me, true love means, having to love the other person with the best that you could give and not asking for something in return. True love means exhausting all your efforts to show how much you love the other person, thinking first of making that other person happy even if you are hurting and enduring the moments that you are not around him. And at the end of the day, you still find yourself content with the word knowing that you have helped put a smile on someone else’s face.

They say there is one true love that is meant for you. You do not need to look for it, because it will come your way. In your lifetime, there is that one person that you are entitled to love and cherish; however, it doesn’t always mean that you can spend your forever with him. True love is the sister of “sacrifice”, because when you love, you do not only embrace happiness, but you also feel pain, you understand sadness, you anticipate hardship, you learn from your mistakes. And from those mistakes, you grow stronger and you sacrifice for the good of the other because you do not only think about yourself, as long as you would willingly give what’s remained in your heart.


Life may not be fair. Happiness may end tragically. But it is still possible to go on no matter how impossible it seems. And that in time, the grief lessens. It may not ever go away completely but after a while, it would soon be not overwhelming after all..

lastly... to quote John Tyree:

"I finally understood what true love meant...love meant that you care for another person's happiness more than your own, no matter how painful the choices you face might be."

reading letters

I like the surprise of finding a letter in the mailbox and the anxious anticipation I feel when I’m getting ready to open it. I like the fact that I can take your letter with me, to read at my leisure and that I can lean against a tree and feel the breeze on my face when I see your words on paper.

I like to imagine the way you looked when you wrote the letter; what you were wearing, your surroundings, the way you held your pen. I know that it’s a cliché and it’s probably off the mark, but I keep thinking of you sitting by the window, with an oil lamp burning beside you while the madness of the winds blow outside. It’s so much more romantic than reading something on the same machine that you use to download music and research paper.

one sweet day..

Lunchtime:
my hubby took charge today, declared it's my rest day, so he cooked spaghetti & fried chicken for lunch.. awww..
ain't he amazing?! thanks hon, wabyu!
- - - - -
Forward 3:30pm
watched TV, with hubby & kids, snuggling on the sofa, while raindrops kept falling down the roof...
- - - - -

Fast forward 7:00pm after dinner:
we were watching Justin Bieber's "Baby" mtv when suddenly, my son, Kyle grabbed my left hand and asked me "Mommy, shall we dance..?" then Kian took my other hand and followed suit.. they said they wanna dance with me, so they led me to the centerstage (sala/living room) and the three of us danced...
awww.... again.. i have to thank Justin Bieber for this, too.. i guess i'm a big fan of mr. Bangs aka Bieber now!!
my kids are so sweet... a trait that they inherited from their dad.. my heart is overwhelmed.. i am so blessed to have such wonderful & sweet family :)

breakfast with honey

usually, i'm the one preparing breakfast for my family..

today it's different.. due to the recent holiday in US, hubby had no work last night, so he woke up early & prepared breakfast for me - a yummy sandwich consisting of home-made tuna patty, (he's the one who cooked the patty!) with lettuce, cucumber, mayo & cheese!

love it!! thanks for the hearty breakfast, hon... love you!

sparks!

here's something new about one of my fave authors..

showing soon in theaters is another heart-wrenching movie from the master tear-jerker himself, Nicholas Sparks... i've watched most of his works, or what moviefone refers to "books-turned-to movies", like Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, and The Notebook which really had me crying buckets of tears.. (i'm still yet to catch Dear John, but i've already read the book Nights in Rodanthe)..

anyway, here's something about his latest flick offering, The Last Song, which is on the contrary, written for a film first then will be published as a book later... i'm definitely excited for this one not just because it's a movie or book from Nicholas, but also because.... i'm a closet Miley Cyrus fan... yeeaahhh!!

ok here goes...

10 Life Lessons Learned From Nicholas Sparks Movies
April 1, 2010 By: Anna Dimond

'The Last Song' opens this week, ready to wreak emotional devastation on viewers with a dramatic story, gilded summer romance and a heartbreaking plot twist that won't leave a dry eye in the theater.

Miley Cyrus stars as Ronnie Miller, a rage-filled teen sent from New York to spend the summer with her estranged father on the North Carolina coast. Within minutes of landing, she meets a dashing local named Will (Liam Hemsworth), who uses his dimples and wit to crack her tough exterior and win her over. For Cyrus, 'The Last Song' marks a departure from her role as Disney's 'Hannah Montana,' the juggernaut that has helped her build a massive tween fan base.

For the rest of us, the film is the latest intended tearjerker from popular tear-jerking author Nicholas Spark. Though here the project began with a screenplay (one Sparks wrote specifically with Cyrus in mind) that will be adapted to a novel, it's usually vice versa, with books-turned-movies like 'A Walk to Remember,' 'The Notebook' and, most recently, 'Dear John.'

While each film has its own unique set of characters and conflicts, the similarities are impossible to ignore. Here's what we've learned from Sparks' films, sacrificing tear ducts, tissues and dignity in the name of learning about love. (Warning: Spoilers below.)

1. Falling in love only happens at the beach.

Forget finding love anywhere but on a stretch of sand with a hot sun overhead and wind in your hair. Sure, other locations might be pretty -- but meeting cuties only happens in one place.

'The Last Song': Will literally bumps into Ronnie during his volleyball game, spilling a milkshake all over her. But that's cool, because it's hot out.

'Dear John': Romance begins when John (Channing Tatum) dives off a pier to retrieve Savannah's (Amanda Seyfried) purse, kicking off an epic love that knows no bounds.

'Message In a Bottle': Theresa (Robin Wright Penn) begins to sweat Garrett (Kevin Costner) when she finds his soul-baring love letter in a bottle that washes up on -- where else? -- a beach on the East Coast.

'Nights in Rodanthe': The North Carolina shore again breeds romance for lovers of a certain age, when Dr. Paul (Richard Gere) checks in at a beach-side guest house and meets Adrienne (Diane Lane).

'The Notebook': Two crazy kids (Ryan Gosling plays Noah, Rachel McAdams plays Allie) meet at a seaside pier and play out their love all summer long -- which includes one head-scratching moment in the waves when Allie insists that Noah says she's a bird.

2. Real men have seaside hobbies.

Let's face it. Nothing says sex appeal like a brawny, outdoors hobby that requires courage, biceps and skill.
'The Last Song': Will's tan skin and rippling muscles were carved on the sand during his intense volleyball games. Plus, he does some Scuba-diving on the side.
'Dear John': John's the only surfer tough enough to win Savannah's heart.
'The Notebook': Noah's a quieter type, and therefore, his penchant for row boats is perfectly appropriate.
'Nights in Rodanthe': Isn't being a doctor enough? Just in case, Dr. Paul does enjoy long runs on the beach.
'Message In a Bottle': Garrett is a boat builder who knows how to woo his lady with a boom.

3. It takes a village for love to work.

Love doesn't happen in a vacuum. If your honey isn't fit to take home to mom (and in Sparks' world, they rarely are), be prepared to go to the mat.

'The Last Song' and 'The Notebook': Class differences seem insurmountable. Allie's mom is so worried about her working-class BF that she hides his letters for years, until her daughter moves on to an upper-class suitor. Will's blue-blood mom has so much contempt for Ronnie that she shames her at the dinner table. Luckily for both, the mothers come around (eventually).

'A Walk to Remember': Bad-boy Landon (Shane West) must not only prove his devotion to win over Jamie (Mandy Moore), but also convince her devout father to let him take her to dinner.

'Nights in Rodanthe' and 'Message In a Bottle': Everything gets better when Adrienne can get her crush on without family responsibilities, while the real grist of 'Message' can't take off without forgiveness from the ex-in-laws.

4. Writing letters trumps texting.

From online dating to "sexting," electronic communication has taken over modern love. But for Nicholas Sparks, there's no substitute for hand-written epistles.

'The Last Song': Ronnie's dad wrote her months before she opens a single letter. When tragedy strikes, the writings help thaw things between them and fill in blanks for the grief-stricken teen.

'Dear John': Letters are the fuel on the flames of love for Savannah and John, who writes her letters for a year when he's deployed overseas.

'Message in a Bottle': Theresa is so smitten by letters (albeit typed by machine) that she falls for Garrett even when his notes are addressed to someone else.

'Nights in Rodanthe': Adrienne, meanwhile, is a modern woman, but when Dr. Paul starts writing, there's no turning back.

'A Walk to Remember': The young lovers don't waste much time with the writing arts, but hand-written notes by Jamie's late mother become a cherished keepsake between them.

5. Kisses make women docile.

Even the most stubborn of women will stop resisting love under the influence of a passionate kiss.

'The Last Song': Ronnie's throwing a tantrum and trying to kick Will out when he plants a wet one on her. Voila! She stops talking and the fight's over.

'A Walk to Remember': Jamie warns Landon not to fall in love with her. So when he finally kisses her and professes his affection, she goes silent for so long that he says, "Now would be the time to say something."

'The Notebook': Noah and Allie's rain-soaked kiss is so powerful that not only does it woo Allie back to the bedroom, but it became the image for the movie's poster.

'Nights in Rodanthe': After bickering all afternoon, Paul gets a little help from a hurricane to make his move. As soon as their lips meet, animosity melts away.

6. Resort-town locals mean trouble.

Impassioned lovers may feel like they're in their own world -- but they're not. In the seaside towns of Nicholas Sparks stories, locals are always lurking with a nasty rumor or a punch to the gut.

'The Last Song': One local causes damage to both property and reputation. Another, and more pugnacious resident, ruins Ronnie and Will's big romantic wedding moment.

'A Walk to Remember': Landon's ex and his whole bad-boy crew threaten to destroy everything he's building with his new love, Jamie. Punches are thrown and feelings get hurt, but Landon's already above it.

'Message In a Bottle': For Garrett the punch-throwing locals are his family. The former in-laws are still hurling blame about his ex's death, and Garrett can't help but fight back.

'Nights in Rodanthe': Conflict with a local brings Dr. P to Rodanthe, but his defensive stance is useless against salt of the earth.

'Dear John': Even the titular hunk -- who's more gentle giant than aggressive thug -- lets loose when the local boys provoke him.

7. Parents know best (especially Dads).

There's a lot of parent-child conflict in the canon of Nicholas Sparks. But once the deep-seated issues are settled, chances are mom or dad has a lot of wisdom to offer -- so listen up.

'The Last Song': Once Ronnie loses her angsty teen act, she and her dad Steve (Greg Kinnear) can finally make amends and behave like family. Steve's so thrilled when she finally seeks out his advice that he can only stammer, "Crazy ... is. Love."

'The Notebook': Allie's sourpuss mom finally comes around when her daughter's on the cusp of deciding between her working-class love and her stud of a bread-winning fiancé. At the 11th hour, though mom has a surprise. "I don't want you to wake up one morning wondering if you'd known everything, you might have done something different," she warns.

'A Walk to Remember': Poor Landon Carter doesn't get much guidance from either his single mom or wealthy, estranged dad. Luckily, the reverend father of his object of affection has a few choice words. "You think on Sundays I don't see you from where I stand," he says. "But I see you."

'Message In a Bottle': In a classic Sparksian moment between father and son, Garrett's dad (Paul Newman) calls him out on his romance bluff. "Now you choose," he says. "Between yesterday and tomorrow. Pick one. Stick with it, and I will shut up."

8. Distance makes the heart grow fonder.

It's nice when your soulmate lives around the corner, but that would drain a lot of the romance form the relationship. Distance only brings Sparks' couples together.

'The Last Song': Will goes to college hundreds of miles away, but the space gives Ronnie time to mature, and Will a chance to fill out his transfer forms.

'Dear John': It's possible that if John didn't deploy and stuck around after summer, things would've fizzled. Instead, he and Savs write letters for a year (see above), building intimacy from afar.

'The Notebook': Allie's in New York and Noah's down South, but that doesn't change a thing. Years of separation let Noah make good on a long-ago promise, while has a real choice between her roots or her real love.

'Nights in Rodanthe': Paul's trip to Ecuador sets the stage for intense yearning until he and Adrienne can start their lives together.

9. Nature and the Arts are aphrodisiacs.

Those ancient Greeks knew what was up, and so does Nicholas Sparks.

'The Last Song': Playing piano not only connects the gifted Ronnie to her composer dad, but it lets her score points with Will when the chips are down. As if music wasn't enough, the young lovers also bond over their mutual affection for baby sea turtles.

'Message in a Bottle': Garrett's hanging on to the paintings his wife made before her death. It's a little creepy, but the canvasses offer Theresa a window into the woman he loved, and later serve as an olive branch amid family strife.

'Dear John': John and Savs have a moment on the beach when John holds his thumb out to the full moon, and explains that it's never bigger than your thumb no matter where you are in the world. Savannah plays guitar.

'Nights in Rodanthe': North Carolina's Outer Banks are home to wild horses, which become a powerful symbol for love and catharsis.

'A Walk to Remember': Singing, astronomy, piano -- Jamie can do it all, and boy does it wow Landon, even if he won't admit it for the first 40 minutes.

10. The people we love tend to die.

It's no secret that people kick the proverbial bucket. But for a proper, epic romance, loved ones drop like flies -- no matter how old or how young, because true redemption can only be found after great loss.
'The Last Song': Someone has had cancer all along... and only spills the beans toward the very end.
'A Walk to Remember': See above.
'Message In a Bottle': A heroic gesture goes south -- all the way to the bottom of the sea.
'The Notebook': Death here is bittersweet, age appropriate and a fitting (if totally unrealistic) end to a lifelong romance.
'Nights in Rodanthe': Heroism is again punished by natural disaster, leaving nothing else to do but sob, mourn and move on until the next Sparks movie is released.

after a while...

After a while you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning and company doesn't mean security,
And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts and presents aren't promises,
And you begin to accept your defeats with your head up and your eyes open, with the grace of an adult, not the grief of a child,
And you learn to build all your roads on today because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans.
After a while you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much.
So plant your own garden and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure . . .that you really are strong, and you really do have worth.
And you learn and you learn . . . with every good-bye you learn. . . .
11 Rules to Always Follow in Love:
♣ Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
♣ When you say, "I love you," mean it.
♣ When you say, "I'm sorry," look the person in the eye.
♣ Believe in love at first sight.
♣ Love deeply and passionately. You may get hurt, but it's the only way to live life completely.
♣ Don't judge people by their relatives, or by the life they were born into.
♣ Marry a person you love to talk to. As you get older, his/her conversational skills will be even more important.
♣ Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
♣ Don't just listen to what someone is saying. Listen to why they are saying it.
♣ Don't trust anyone who doesn't close his/her eyes when you kiss.
♣ Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.