Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not obsessively text message. It does not compare you to old girlfriends. Nor does it practice emotional blackmail.

Most teenage boys suck at love. It’s a lot harder than baseball or soccer. There are real feelings at stake, and sometimes boys forget that. Sometimes they can’t help it because their hormones are screaming inside them so loudly they can’t hear anything else. Sometimes they just like to put themselves first. Some boys grow out of selfishness and some do not.

The important thing to remember is that you know what love is. Because girlfriend, you are loved by lots of people.

When you find that right someone, he will love you the way your people do. His love will feel warm and familiar, like your favorite t-shirt fresh out of the dryer. His love will lift you up and make you smile the way your friends do. It will comfort you and sustain you the way your parents do.

The hardest thing is to be patient for this Love. Sometimes it takes a long long time to find it. Sometimes it doesn’t. Like everything else, only God knows the timing. You have to have faith and hope that it will come. And while you’re waiting for Love with a capital L to come along, have fun. Goof off. Be free.

Keep your standards and your chin high, beautiful one.