{"id":38222,"date":"2025-11-23T02:12:52","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T08:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/?p=38222"},"modified":"2025-11-23T02:12:52","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T08:12:52","slug":"the-world-becomes-magical-when-the-right-person-says-i-love-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/?p=38222","title":{"rendered":"The world becomes magical when the right person says, \u2018I love you\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It felt as though my heart was going to explode with joy.<\/p>\n

She loved me. She told me she loved me. I had already fallen in love with her, but I was terrified that maybe she might not love me in return. And then came those magical words.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you, David.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

As long as she loved me, nothing else mattered. We could overcome any problem. I could climb any mountain that our relationship required me to climb. I could be whatever I needed to be. The world changed in that moment \u2014 all because she loved me.<\/p>\n

We loved each other deeply. We said the words \u2014 both aloud and in writing \u2014 all the time. (What you see above is a screenshot of her very own keystrokes from an email I still have. I still have all of them.) We expressed the feelings to one another in ways that made the world seem alive and magical. The world was bright and loving and perfect, all because she loved me and I loved her.<\/p>\n

Until everything changed. My heart was broken and bruised. So was hers. But why?<\/p>\n

If love is real, does it ever completely die? I really don’t think so. But a love can lose so much of its meaning that it’s just a faded memory. Losing the intensity and intoxication of early love leaves a mark on the heart. It hurts. It stings.<\/p>\n

But does that mean I regret feeling the intense joy? Does that mean that if love isn’t going to stay for life, it’s not worth experiencing? Of course not.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve fallen in love like this only a handful of times. And every time it happens, it feels bigger, deeper, more necessary than before. When I\u2019m not in love, I feel the absence like a low-grade ache. There\u2019s an emptiness I can\u2019t fill with work or hobbies or distractions. But I also know I can\u2019t force love to appear. It comes when it wants to. It refuses to obey logic or planning.<\/p>\n

And when it does arrive, it changes everything again. Suddenly the world feels hopeful. Ordinary moments feel charged. You wake up eager. You feel the future reaching toward you instead of slipping away from you. No matter how many times it\u2019s happened, the feeling is always new. It never loses its power.<\/p>\n

I’ve been thinking about that lately because a friend has recently fallen in love. She’s giddy and emotional and wildly happy. All because a love has come that is better than anything she’s ever experienced. She loves him \u2014 and he loves her just as strongly.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m happy for her. Truly. But talking with her has stirred up something in me. I miss this kind of love. I miss the transformation it brings. I miss feeling chosen and wanted and safe. I miss waking up with my heart racing for good reasons instead of bad ones.<\/p>\n

When love is real and it brings two hearts together in this sort of way, it’s one of the very best experiences of life. Whether it lasts or not, real love changes everything while it’s filling our hearts and changing the shape of our minds.<\/p>\n

How many times have I felt this? I\u2019m not sure anymore. Early memories blur and soften. But I remember believing each time that this must be the deepest love I could ever feel. And then I proved myself wrong.<\/p>\n

I still carry gratitude for every woman I\u2019ve ever loved. Even when things ended in confusion or pain, I can\u2019t hold bitterness. Each of these women gave me joy. Each gave me hope. Each gave me moments when the world felt enchanted.<\/p>\n

I still have intense feelings about one woman, but I doubt she knows that anymore. Maybe I’m wrong, though. Who knows? We didn’t end up together \u2014 and it’s too late for us to have what we both wanted \u2014 but that doesn’t stop me from being filled with thoughts and feelings about what might have been.<\/p>\n

And still, I hope. I hope for the next time love walks into my life without warning. I hope for the moment when my heart shifts again and I know I\u2019ve found something real. Something magical.<\/p>\n

And I hope for the day I\u2019ll hear those words again \u2014 \u201cI love you, David\u201d<\/em> \u2014 and that I can believe, even for a moment, that love has finally come to stay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It felt as though my heart was going to explode with joy. She loved me. She told me she loved me. I had already fallen in love with her, but I was terrified that maybe she might not love me in return. And then came those magical words. \u201cI love you, David.\u201d As long as Keep Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1x9iR-9Wu","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38222"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38235,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38222\/revisions\/38235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}