To the Man Who Loves Me Next

For as long as I can remember, I have been a hopeless romantic. I love to be loved and to give love in return. And because of this, I have found myself in more heartbreaking circumstances than I care to admit. I have given my love to men who were not able to love me in return. My poor heart has been battered and broken. To the man who loves me next, as much as I want to give my love to you, please don't hurt me.

I think it's important to know how someone receives and accepts love. There are Five Love Languages: Words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, physical touch, and receiving gifts. Some people show their love through physical touch by kissing, holding hands, hugging, etc., but for me, I'm not really an affectionate person. Don't get me wrong, I like physical touch, but I don't like it when it's excessive. I don't care for gifts too much, either. I don't want you to always buy me things. I do like flowers every now and then, though. Hint: Orchids are my favorite flowers. I am an acts of service person. I show my love by going out of my way for other people. I will wash your dishes or clean your place to take away some of your stress. I also like it when someone does that for me. However, I am very independent. So independent at times that it will make you mad how stubborn I am about doing things on my own. My biggest downfall is I don't like to admit when I need help. I am also a person who needs words of affirmation. I want to hear you say you appreciate me and why you're with me. My heart melts when I wake up to a little note on the kitchen counter you left for me. I thrive on being built up through encouragement and kind words. I will enjoy telling you how proud I am of you. I will be supportive of you, as I hope you will support me, too. Lastly, I am mostly a quality time lover. I am content doing nothing with you. I am happy to see you for a few hours, or even minutes for that matter. Time is something people aren't always willing to give to someone else, so when someone dedicates time to me that tells me you want me around as much as I want to be around you. To the man who loves me next, if you learn my love language, I will learn yours. I'll love you wholeheartedly.

When I am happy, I want to share those moments with you. Some days, I will be screaming from the highest hills. I want to celebrate every success with you. I want to water you, so you can grow into the person I know you can be. I will see the potential in you that you cannot see within yourself. When I am sad, I have a bad habit of closing myself off and trying to deal with it on my own. I will isolate myself, shut down and cut off communication. Some days, the hardest thing for me is to get out of bed and face the world. I have a poor way of dealing with sadness, I know, but it's something I am actively trying to work on. To the man who loves me next, please be patient with me and love me through the highs and lows that I know will come.

I am full of passion. I love all forms of art. I want to explore museums, monuments, comedy places, poetry slams, and concerts. My soul is wanderlust. I want to stand in the Grand Canyon, sit under waterfalls in Costa Rica, walk the beaches of Aruba, ride an elephant in India, learn more about my Irish and German heritage, but I want to do all of these with you. I love animals. Dogs and elephants make me so happy I cry. I feel I should mention, I love coffee. I drink it every day. I enjoy it with a lot of cream. To the man who loves me next, I want to know all of your passions so we can experience them together.

I must remind you, I am human. I'm not perfect. I will make mistakes, but I will do my best to fix them. I cannot promise I won't hurt you, because that's not a promise I know I would be able to keep. I will, however, try not to hurt you. I don't expect you to be perfect, either.

To the man who loves me next, I promise you I will try my best for you. I want to make you happy. I want to build and grow with you. If you let me, I will fill your cup with all the love I have to give. All I ask, my love, is you take care of my tired heart. Water my garden, and I will feed you forever. I have so much love to give, please let me give it to you.