I was talking with a friend the other day about first love.   How many of you remember it clearly?  I fell head over heels in love at seventeen.  Love at first site, no doubt about it.  But, who could resist a smile like his?  Or, eyes the color of the bluest sky?  And, how he always made me laugh and just feel good about being alive?  I can remember the first time he called me...when he gave me his class ring to wear, the day after we started dating and him first holding my hand in school...

Time affords us the good sense to forget the bad memories if we choose!  Isn't that terrific?  I mean, we did break up and our relationship was riddled with problems... But, who cares now?  I'd rather remember the way he chased me around the mustang he was restoring...or, the way he used to whisper in my ear to get my attention.. Yeh, I'd visit 17 again for 10 or 15 minutes...

As life goes thrashing through its paces, sometimes its nice to look back & reflect on the good stuff..those things people or life can't take from you like memories.   Matters of the heart are truly the only things that count in life....at 17 that reasoning was crystal clear. 
When I read the blogs of 13-25 year olds I try to read with an open heart & mind... to view the world as they might; with fresh new eyes that haven't been tainted.  I love reading all the emotions they just haven't learned how to stuff inside and hide or justify....  I will try to remember this and tread lightly when my own daughter turns 17.