Love is like sitting in contented silence; it’s peaceful and fills you with a sense of appreciation.

Love is like a dog that’s barking and wagging its tail; exciting and filled with energy.

Love is like an unexpected pothole in the road; it is sudden but you will be okay by the end.

Love is like the moment before you fall asleep; crazy and complex but exciting as well.

Love is like air; something needed to feel truly alive.

Reading these now I realize I am only thinking about one person my girlfriend. While love can be given to friends and family I feel I would write something different in place of what I have now. Being in love with someone is different from loving someone, although it may share many of the same traits. Each prompt made an impression on my brain which was immediate and without thought just truth. Why my girlfriend as opposed to anyone else maybe because that is who I care for the most currently and who I think of when someone says love. And each aspect of the first five prompts all work together to help form that identity. The first of the five is a statement of what it feels to be with my girlfriend and just be with them, not do anything at all just be with that person. To just be with her and loving and enjoy every bit of it with no visual or auditory stimulation but enjoying a mutual feeling between two people and the comfort and safety of being there. The second statement is for the more energetic parts of love. Such and going out and doing things with her no matter what it is, whether you are playing a board game shopping, eating, or something more intimate it is a whole new joy, that can even make a mundane task enjoyable due to my being with that person. The third is a more complex thought one of the problems faced in my relationship. Whatever they may be they can come suddenly and take over all previous thoughts and emotions. It can create tension fear and sadness, but it enriches the relationship. It makes me have a deeper appreciation for my girlfriend and her problems as well as realizing my own. And at the end it only makes me love her even more. Number four is a more abstract concept to me being in love has opened a whole new realm to me I never knew existed. Both with my own emotions and hers as well as new experiences that I had never had before. I may not completely know what's going on all the time and it can be confusing but it is also really amazing to have that experience and learn so much about myself and her. Prompt five is a more emotional one for me (not saying the rest weren’t emotional just that this one has a special place in my heart). Before falling in love with my girlfriend I had felt very alone in this world with few to turn to for some aspects of my life. With her, someone who is not a close friend or family I feel complete. As if a part of my life that I desperately wanted for so long is finally here and I get to enjoy that feeling. I finally feel truly alive and in utter wonder of what I now have. So now that I love I am also alive.

The door shuts I do not want it too

I wait a second then move forward in front of the car

I wait and watch as the car backs up changes direction and finally starts to pull away.

I wait as the back lights of the car slowly pull up the drive dirt to pavement.

The car is gone now but still I wait tense, listening to the cars engine as it gets quieter

This wait it over now comes the next wait to hear back know she is safe

The last wait is the worse lasting anywhere between 10 hours to many days

This wait is the worst to be sure but it all is worth it at the end when I see her eyes again.

It was the our final night in japan we had been on the train most of the day and the whole group was tired. We had just gotten off the Shinkansen, (Japan’s bullet train) ad arrived in Tokyo the whole group was tired and ready to quickly leave and get to our hotel. The whole group moved quickly going through the train station and then into the streets moving pretty fast, right, left,left, right was the way to our hotel from the train station not too far but enough so that is someone was left behind they wouldn’t know how to reach the hotel. We reached the lobby and we started to wait to get our room keys. Something was off however I had a weird feeling that we were missing someone, I kept on looking over the group over and over I was trying to see who was there and who wasn’t. Finally my friend came over and goes you notice someone is missing I agreed with him and we kept looking over the group trying to find out who it was we knew the group consisted of 12 kids but no matter how many times we counted we came up with 11. We still had no clue as to who was missing, and we hoped that someone would come out of the restrooms and we kept checking to see if anyone else knew. We started joking around would anyone notice if we didn’t say anything it didn’t look like it. Finally after awhile we finally figured out who it was Keyliah the one who was always behind and late this was not new of her but a trend, she would constantly wander off and get lost. We decided since we now had a name to inform the chaperones now handing out our room card that we were missing Keyliah, to which one of our chaperones Davis now chose me and another boy Michael to go run off with him down the streets and to find her.

We exited the building at a brisk pace it was approaching 9 so it was cool out but not cold, the smell of everything was different from before the streets more empty. It was a clear night and the sounds of the city and traffic all blended together into one noise as we ran. And the smell a mixture of car fumes, food and people it was amazing. As we ran I hadn’t felt more alive but also saddened as I realized that I would soon be leaving Japan. My time in Japan had been an interesting adventure of fun, sadness, struggle, and friendship in which connections to people where made and broken and lasting times will always be remembered in my heart. Now as we ran I teared up some knowing that soon this would all end one of the greatest times of my life while also being one of my darkest.

I didn’t have time to think through all these thoughts as suddenly we were at the train station and there she was , standing with this big grin on her face as we approached not worried in the slightest about being alone in a huge city, she trusted that we would come back to her. On our walk back we found out that Louie my friend that had come up to me about not seeing someone, had seen her stuck at a turnstile but decided to wait and see how long it would take before anyone would notice. While we joked about it on the way back I couldn’t help but think how I would have reacted in a similar situation, who knows it never happened.

My mind now goes back to that time the problems I faced then the friends I lost and my experience gained through that experience. Good or bad all the experiences there have improved me as a person and helped form who I am today. I will never forget Japan and the people there and I will also never forget Keyliah’s grinning face as we came up to her to take her back to the hotel.