Childhood Love | Why do we let it slip away?

Childhood love may be one of the most innocent experiences of love in life. There’s a difference between pure love and love that gets muddied and complicated as we age.  Next to my grandmother’s unconditional love, I experienced the purest love of my life in kindergarten.

I met my childhood love in elementary school, but sadly, I also engineered my first encounter with rejection. Back then I didn’t understand that I was throwing away an opportunity to be loved with a sweet innocence reserved only for youth.   

Choosing Rejection

Despite there being a boy in my class who thought I was the greatest thing since sliced bread, I looked the opposite way. Instead, I had eyes for another little boy who happened to be in love with another little girl, the Goldilocks of our classroom.  Her light blonde hair fell in ringlets around her angelic round face. She had perfect rosy cheeks that always looked like they’d just been pinched.    

I don’t know why I didn’t return the same affection for the boy in my class who persistently showed me childhood love.  I ran from him. In retrospect I may have been downright mean.  This chase happened all the way through elementary school. It even culminated with an actual date in high school. I remember refusing to let this gentleman open and close my car door for me. My mind was set on asserting my independence and capableness.   

It’s true. Sometimes, we don’t know what we have until it’s gone.

Childhood love may predict the future

I was so lucky that my childhood love showered me with gifts for every occasion. I was the object of his loyal, faithful and persistent affection. He was motivated by a pure heart not physical lust.  There was a moment where I tried reciprocity. I bought a Valentine’s gift to give him in return for his multiple gestures of sweet kindness.   

Once, he gave me what turned out to be my favorite childhood gift; a pure expression of love in the form of a shoebox decorated with hearts.  The shoebox was filled with caterpillars.  Not one or two caterpillars, but what seemed like hundreds.  I loved that shoebox, and it couldn’t contain all the love this boy had to give, just for me.  God knows how long it took him to gather such a collection.  But, to my mother’s surprise and disgust, the caterpillars escaped and ended up crawling all over the house. Perhaps this was a hint of my future. Even then, it was impossible to keep the lid on love and sometimes love gets messy, no matter how pure the intent. 

From this point forward, I’d be the one expressing my innocent love for others who would mostly never understand.  The universe would pay me back infinitely for my aloof reception of this young boy’s purest pursuit.   

My childhood love got away, will yours?

In fact, I’ve thought many times over the years about what would have happened if I’d given this love a chance to grow on me.  What if I’d decided to love back, to give equally in return? Maybe I would have avoided the painful relationships I’d experience in the future.

Either way, I let that childhood love slip away.  It’s difficult to approach love with innocence once we’ve experienced so much heartbreak. But pure love requires childlike vulnerability. Maybe it’s time to search for your long-lost love or reach out to someone who gives you the butterflies. It’s never too late to let love in.

LoveLifeLinks.com hopes you’ll find a renewed sense of innocence and open your heart to pure love again.

Remember, you can feel love anywhere, anytime, all the time.