043006Smile though your heart is aching
Light up your face with gladness
That�s the time you must keep on trying
042806It�s a smile. A touch. A glance out the corner of your eye. The smallest thing imaginable, but it gets me every time. My heart starts to pitter-patter and I go weak at the knees like one giant, love-struck clich�. It doesn�t matter how many times you do these things. Even if I see you for days in a row, in your sweatpants after working out, first thing in the morning with bed head and glasses, with a personalized patch on your shirt, it comes back. Faster. Stronger. You intoxicate me. When the smoke alarm goes off from dinner and I�m practically in tears, you look at me and I�m grounded. Everything melts away and it�s just you and me. Just us. And I love that. �To the world, you might be one person. But to one person, you just might be the world.� 040506What you don�t know can�t hurt you. There is a lot of truth to that statement. Really, ignorance is bliss. And when it comes to relationships, it makes a lot of sense. Just how much, if anything, do you need to know about your partner�s past? Sure, everyone�s curious. I�d much rather know up front if someone I�m trying to become serious with is a serial dater. But after a few basic facts, like the number of significant others or sexual partners and when, how much more should be disclosed? For some, the more you learn, the more jealous you become. Every though these people are a part of your partner�s past, they become your present, haunting your thoughts at every turn. What is he runs into her in a bar? What if she sees him at the gym? Do old habits really die hard? For other, less is more. When they meet someone, they�d much rather start from here. Sure, the past is a part of your life and has shaped you into the person you are today, but do they really need to know about your ex-girlfriend�s obsession with finding the perfect steak knife? Share that and your current girlfriend may become afraid to cut meat in front of you ever again. By sharing too much, you can unknowingly make some topics taboo. Like the knives. Bring up the topic too often and you might get: �Stop that. You sound just like [ex�s name here].� And no one wants to hear that. No current partner wants to be compared to someone you got rid of. So where does the line get drawn between normal conversation and exposing too much information? And if we cross it, can we ever go back?
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