The Fall

A personal metaphor for love.

When I was a kid, I didn't understand why people called it "falling in love." That sounded odd to me, how can one "fall in love?" Is there literally a fall to be made when you're in love? If so, then love should be avoided at all costs, should it not?

Why would you put yourself through the pain of a skinned knee or bruised elbow for the sake of love? That was my thought process. Love was irrational, if not completely insane, at least to my young mindset anyway. The torn or bruised flesh was not worth holding a girl's hand or kissing her on the cheek. After all, girls had cooties and scary smiles, not to mention the constant berating and teasing. They also giggled a lot, which was creepy back then.

Then, many years later, the cooties were a funny memory and the scary smiles turned into beautiful ones. The constant berating and teasing were done so in a flirtatious manner and the giggles weren't creepy anymore, they were cute. Only then did it kick in that they call it "falling in love" because that's exactly what you're doing.

When you meet someone and develop a heart-to-heart connection with them, it's like getting on a roller coaster for the first time. You wait in line for however long it takes, then you sit down and the bar locks across your lap and you prepare for the ride. Slowly, it begins moving along the track and starts clicking up the slope. Each click brings a multitude of feelings to your heart and an incalculable amount of thoughts can flow through your mind. Eventually, you reach that precipice and you stare out over the world for a moment and everything is so clear and a profound sense of freedom engulfs you. Then...you fall.

Your stomach floats as if it were carried by a million butterflies, your mind scrambles and you can't help but let out a howl of joy for all the world to hear! A flash may briefly blind you, but almost instantly you're making a turn at lightning speed and you jolt to the left, the next turn takes you left again so you prepare for another left but you're abruptly sent right instead. The whole time your face shifts from excited to scared and back to excited again. Seemingly out of nowhere, the loop hits and blood rushes to your head before it's quickly released to the appropriate appendages.

You tighten your grip and hold on for dear life as you ascend once again. Another precipice allows you to regain your faculties for a moment, before you feel the butterflies start to flap their eager wings again and you fall. The fall makes you feel alive on a level that you've never experienced and you finally understand what a certain terrifyingly astonishing four letter word means.

"Falling in love." What was once such an odd and irrational idea to me, is now the most precious and powerful component in my life. There are a myriad of elements to love, whether it be the skinned knees or bruised elbows; the constant berating and teasing; even the giggles, smiles and cooties. However above these and so many more, lies the most enjoyable element of all: the fall...