He’s the one who wrote you love letters. He’s the one who tried to get your number at school. He’s the one who won your heart through childish means. He’s the one you took long train/bus rides with. He’s the one who stole all your firsts – your first date, your first hand-hold, your first kiss, your first walk home, your first couple item. But he is also the first you lose. Not because you didn’t love him. But because growing up, you realize that in life, some stay and others go, and that sometimes we don’t just grow up, we also grow apart. Youth – he was your first lover. He was your first heartbreak.

2.     Love – the right person you meet at the right time

He’s the stranger-turned-best friend. He’s the one that made you realize why things didn’t work out previously. He’s the one that made the past heartbreak(s) worthwhile.

He’s the boy who doesn’t just send you home, but enters home hand-in-hand with you. He’s the boy you date at home. The one you cuddle at home while watching movies. He’s the one you’d even bother watching soccer for. He’s the one who holds your hand in town when you’re all glamorously made up but he’s also the one who cuddles you when you’re in bed without make up.  He’s the one you grow up with. You know it it's true when you witness how dates switched from crowded bus/train rides to a private ride in his car.

Unlike Youth, Love knows you inside out. He always knows when you need a shoulder to lean on, an ear to rant to, or a hand to reach out to. He’s the boy you’re proud to bring home to your parents. He’s protective like your father, annoying like your brother but loving like no other. He’s the boy you see a future with. He’s the boy you willingly forsake all other boys for. For the lucky girl, Love is also the boy you grow old with. For the average girl, Love simply is the one that got away.

3.     Marriage – the wrong person you meet at the right time

If you're the girl who got to marry and grow old with Love, stop here. For Love = Marriage and the rest is irrelevant to you.  If not, read on.

He’s the financially stable one. He’s the career man. He’s the one who wakes up donned in a work suit and oxfords. He may not surprise you like Love did. He may not excite you like Youth did. He may not be as cute and dashing as Youth or as fun and passionate as Love, but for once in your life, you worry less about growing apart while growing up. For once in your life, you’re less worried about baring yourself to someone only to be torn apart.

By the time you meet Marriage, you recognize love isn’t sufficient to sustain a relationship. You recognize that fun and looks don’t last. By the time you meet Marriage, you’ve gone through sufficient heartbreaks to want to be spared another.

Marriage is ultimately the one you spend the rest of your life with. Not because he’s passionate, not because being with him is fun but because he’s what you need - the stable partner who publicly promises to grow old with you, in illness or health, riches or poor, for better or worse.

A lot of us believe true love is about finding the “Right” one. But true love really is more a matter of timing. He may have been right at 19 but he may no longer be the right one at 27. More often than not, we lose our loved ones because we grow apart while growing up.  

Just like how time made wrong your relationship with Mr. Right, time too can make right “the wrong one”.  And with time, you realize Marriage wasn’t the right one at the right time, because he is the right one forever.

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Thought this was really meaningful, so I've decided to post this. 

For my whole life, I've been looking for the last guy to spend my entire life with, but the seemingly right guy always comes by at the wrong timing. And it really sucks how I have to either let him go or watch him get away. I guess at this point in time I'm no longer looking for Youth or Love, but rather, Marriage. People may go, 'Oh, you're only 17/18, why are you thinking so far ahead?' I've once read an article on relationships and everything, and there was this quote that I found so so so so meaningful. 'There are only two outcomes in a relationship -- break up or get married.' And it's true. The two either stick together the very end or go separate ways when they've been together long enough to know that that one guy or girl of theirs isn't exactly who they want to spend the rest of their lives with. Since young, I hear my elder cousins and friends complain about how growing up sucks. And I couldn't disagree more with them. Being an adult seemed so much fun to me. No restrictions. No curfew. No school (BEST). And this list goes on and on. But it was until when I was 15/16 that I realised, yeah, growing up really sucks. Its not just about dealing relationships and everything, but the endless list of things that I had to deal with ALONE, is crazy. And I guess, that's when I started thinking about that one guy. The one whose going to be there for me for the rest of my life. The one whose going to love me even for my imperfections. The one whose going to be the first to be there for me. The one whom I'm going to share everything in my life with. The one whom I want to love more than anything, even myself. The one whom I want to grow old with together. 

Chloe