We Were Just Kids, But That Love Was Real

They say the first cut is the deepest, and maybe that’s because your first love is less about romance and more about innocence, wonder, and raw, unfiltered emotion. We were just kids, stumbling through adolescence with hearts too big for our bodies, yet somehow, the love we shared felt bigger than anything we’d ever know.

And even now, years later, I still believe that love was real.

The Spark That Started It All

We met in the most ordinary way on the school bus. You sat across the aisle with your worn-out backpack and untied shoelaces, and I was the shy kid who always looked out the window. We didn't fall in love instantly. It started with trading snacks, laughing at inside jokes, and walking home together after school. Slowly, something deeper took root.

You held my hand for the first time under the bleachers at a junior high football game. My palms were sweating, my heart pounding—but nothing else in the world mattered. It was awkward and sweet and filled with a kind of electricity that adult love rarely replicates

Innocence in Its Purest Form

What made it real wasn’t the duration. It wasn’t grand gestures or fancy dates. It was the purity. We didn’t know how to play games or hide our feelings. We were brutally honest sometimes too much so. We didn’t worry about what the future looked like or whether we were "right" for each other. We were simply present.

There were notes passed in class, mix CDs with our favorite songs, and hours on the phone just breathing into the receiver. We didn’t say much, but it felt like everything. There was a freedom in that kind of love—a lack of fear, a lack of pretense.

The Inevitable End

Like most teenage romances, ours didn’t last. We grew up. You moved away. I stayed behind. The calls became less frequent, and eventually, they stopped altogether. There wasn’t a dramatic breakup, just a quiet drift. Life pulled us in different directions.

But what amazes me is how the memory of that love hasn’t faded. It’s etched into the corners of my heart like the initials we carved into that old tree at the park. Sometimes, when I hear a certain song or walk past our old bus stop, I’m transported back to that time when love was simple, messy, and all-consuming.

Why It Still Matters

It took me years to understand why I kept thinking about you. Why that old love still stirred something in me. And I’ve come to realize: it's not because I want you back or because we’re meant to be. It's because love showed me what it means to feel something deeply. To care without caution. To believe in the magic of connection.

First love leaves a mark not because it’s perfect, but because it's unfiltered. It's the first time you learn what heartbreak feels like, what joy truly means, and what it is to be vulnerable.

The Lessons I Learned

Real love doesn’t always last, but that doesn’t make it any less real.

Emotional connection matters more than years or titles.

Every relationship, even short-lived ones, teaches us something valuable.

First love opens the door to knowing what we deserve, what we want, and what we’re capable of.

And maybe the biggest lesson of all? Love, in all its forms, is worth remembering even if it ended. Especially if it ended.

A Love Letter to the Past

To the person who once held my hand so tightly it felt like nothing could pull us apart, I see you. I remember you. And I’m grateful for you.

You were my first lesson in love. You taught me that feelings matter. That connection can happen at any age. And though we haven’t spoken in years, and probably never will again, I hope life has been kind to you.

Because despite everything, despite time and change and distance.

That love we shared?

It was real.