They say not to depend on a first true love. 

"You're too young!"

"Focus on yourself."

"Your future is too bright. Don't waste it on him."

My first true love gave me everything. 

I feel like myself around him. I feel like I can conquer the world when I am with him. I discovered new music, met new people, experienced life the way his hyper heart has always done. 

He said "I love you" first. I did not say it until I meant it. 

God. Do I love that man.  Even if he breaks my heart, even if I break his, he has given me the world. 

I focus on what I know I can do and he supports my choices. 

I do not hide the person I am. 

I do not make choices I would not be proud of.

I make sure to always be myself. 

I look at him and wonder if I have affected him the way he has me. 

Chasing after my dreams I type this in my first college dorm; him two hours away counting down the days until I come back. 

"I'm so proud of you." 

Those words made my heart smile bigger than usual. He knows he is not the center of my world, nor am I his.
But he has shown me the world as I want to live for the rest of my life. 

And I will always love him for that. 

"Thank you" I will say to him, the next time I see him smile at me that certain way, when the love just gleams from his eyes.