Mitchell-

You're ridiculous. Now that this has been established, I'm sorry. There were so many things I could have done differently, and we both know we're not at fault. I'm willing to own up to my mistakes. I never should have gotten so close to Tom. I never should have even come close to that situation. So many things that I could have done differently, so many things that could have gone right.
I'm sorry things didn't turn out the way we had wanted them to. I'm sorry that I'm not with you right this second, loving you the way I had wanted to, holding your hand, perfectly happy, and loving you.
I wanted that, all of that. To explore you as a person and to grow as me as a person and all of that.
I'm sorry that I'm a child, unknowledgeable, lost, and confused.
I can't even express this amalgam of emotions inside of me right now, the weight on my mind, on my shoulders, in my heart, pressing against me threatening to both explode and crush me all at the same time.
I will own up to my faults, because they were awful and I'm sorry for all of them. If you asked it of me I'll say them out loud and get on my knees and beg for forgiveness, if you were willing to do the same for yours.

Did you really think only a handful of days of you beginning to change was going to make up for the weeks of arguing and not seeing you and my own confusion?
Your pride, your stubborn quality, clashed with my own. I'll admit it. I am proud, I am stubborn, and I am a fool- but I am not fool enough that I would let it cloud my vision from the truth.
I understand you have priorities, as did I. You had your studies and your family, I had mine. You had your friends, as did I. I refuse to bend for my friends, I made changes in my habits with them to please you. I changed, molded, gave in, bent who I was, and sacrificed intimate times with people who were my friends for your own sake. For your comfort, for your joy. What was I to give you that I didn't give them you always asked me. What was I to give you?
I gave you effort. Time with them came effortlessly, it had to be worked at with you. They didn't have my kisses, my love, my heart in their hands. Friends are companions. I don't enter romantic relationships lightly I hope you understand.
I constantly think of you every day, and I miss you, but I know that you and I simply cannot be together no matter how much I wish it could be that way.
I met someone, and I love him, much like how I love you. This young man though communicates, doesn't shrug things off. He doesn't hide from me, we have so much in common. I am myself effortlessly with him.
He is my friend first and foremost and will always remain so. If it were in his best interests for me to simply be a friend, or even completely removed from his life then I would oblige because all I want is his happiness, much like what I want for you.
I love you Mitchell, and I want your happiness. Being with you forced so much effort out of me. I should have enjoyed that effort though. It should have been effortless to put effort into our relationship, instead it was a boon, and a bane to my existence during that time. This is why I simply can't be with you.

So now that I feel dejected, like an awful person, and go back and be reminded of my past and awful things, and secrets; Now that I hate myself just a little bit more, and am again reminded of my flaws, of my existence as a human being, I feel like curling into a ball and just lying there, thinking, hating myself, forcing myself to suffer, and I'll admit it right now I feel unhappy, but amidst all of this there are a few things that I know.

There are people who will love me regardless of this.

I love you regardless of this.

I want you to be happy.

With all of my love,
Paulina

P.S. I'm sorry if things are harsh, or accusatory, or whatever they come off as, even if it's something good. I just... Not thinking simply feeling, not censoring? I'm not sure even what to say. I'm just feeling very in the moment.

I'm sorry for being a hypocrite. I tried so hard to tear your walls down, so hard to get past them because I know that I had gone the farthest into that maze of your mind than any other person. I wanted to tear your walls down because I thought that was what was best for you. I thought that I knew what was best for you, but now I look back and see my own foolishness. I'm sorry my love for doing that to you. For destroying who you were without ensuring you would be safe once we took out the things that were hurting you. Instead I tore down walls and your world came crashing down. I am so incredibly sorry.
Now I realize that I have my own walls, my own failings, my own insecurities. I am so used to being the strong one, but now it is I who am weak. I am the broken one, the hidden one, the young one, the scared one, the... I'm not even sure how to finish, what to say. I'm amazed at this revelation of myself.
I have walls. I am not strong. I am not powerful, and I never will be the person I want to be until that weak, scared, pitiful, vulnerable part of myself grows up.

So I'm sorry for insisting your walls break down, for being mad at you that they didn't come down, and for hurting you in a way that I didn't understand at the time.

This is My Vulnerability

Welcome to just a facet of me, part of my insides that so few see. Welcome to this place where so many tears have been shed; so many thoughts, words, opinions, ideas, feelings, everything. Don't hate me for what's on here. Don't run, don't hide, don't judge. Simply to know.

Look me in the eyes

See the pain, the hurt, the confusion, the frustration, the amalgam of so many conflicting emotions behind this mask, this smile that gets put on for everyone else. I opened myself to you, and you saw so much of me. I worked on peeling away my skins for you and now... Now I feel like sewing myself shut again. I am so sorry, but I know time will heal our wounds, and that life has a grand plan for us. A plan, a a path like a spider web... We simply have to decide which one to take.

Save These Thoughts for Later

Listening to your stories and remembering my own was absolutely and positively heart wrenching. Perhaps I'm being dramatic, but it most definitely was not happy for me. It made me smile to see you smile, and to remember your happy memories, but the fact that you cried about them only minutes before reminded me of what came before my numbness. I am jealous of you. I envy your ability to feel these things. To remember them. I remember them, and remember them all fondly, but I have detached all emotion from them. They numb me, remind me, chill me, then move on. This is the way of things for me, and this is how I have survived. Is that so wrong? So... right? So... what could it possibly be.
I am on new grounds, and have yet to be used to them. Wandering through life with you by my side... I feel myself on the edge of  a brave new world, with a tempest blowing at my back. Perhaps you are my island of the lotus eaters? No, you are too honest, too real, too so many other things not entirely a fantasy to be and island of the cursed fruit.
I cannot do what you do. I cannot look backwards at what I have written, or what has been written to me just yet. I am unable to do this because I am so afraid of what will happen to me.

04 August 2010

My Dearest Mitchell,

(because "Dear Mitch" just doesn't sound right)

     To call you mine is actually quite wonderful. Starting with a pleasantry of course. The written word is my forte, and I love writing letters. This will be my first to you.

     I took a few hours today to myself, sorting my emotions, thoughts, and whatnot (during which you were worried and scared, which was quite endearing.) and this is my conclusion. While I would rather express this to you in person, a letter should suffice.

     I am in no fit state to handle a deep, loving, and serious relationship. You ask me not to break you, but I am still broken by the very person who glued me together for four years. I'm in pieces. I'm tired, and you shouldn't have to deal with this. I am making excuses. I'm healed and together, but the scars strike a fear over me. I promised myself I wouldn't let anyone ever have that power over me again. I was an emotional wreck until about a month ago and I refuse to go back to that shell of a human being. It is ironic that I am so independent and yet crave emotional intimacy and the ability to rely on another person, or better yet that I am logical with the most illogical of emotions. In short, I am emotionally (if not mentally as well) unstable, set in fear, and filled with doubt.

     I have no reason to doubt you. I simply don't want you to be another one of those guys; the ones who add to all of this gear and doubt. I refuse to be used for sex or toyed with, or repeatedly abused ever again. I refuse to allow you to hurt me, but at the same time I must relinquish that power to you, and this is the part that troubles me. My fear keeps me from trusting you, but I find myself trusting you the more I fall for you. I want to like you, fall for you, fall in love with you, be in love with you. I myself must be absolutely certain you feel the same way before I let go and just fall. Your sweet words have been used on me before and I trusted so easily, fell so easily, was used, then discarded.

     I prayed about this, my torment, my confusion, my fear, then a verse gave me strength; "In all circumstances give thanks, because this is the will of God for you in Jesus Christ" 1 Thessalonians 5:18. I have always grown from all things He brought to my life, and now he brings me you. For what purpose only He knows and only time can tell.

     Be you soul mate, fleeting lover, good friend, I will accept it, and you, perfectly as is. He also reminded me that you were not those boys. You are entirely different. he has put in my heart the will to believe you, and the strength to slowly let go of my fear again. So now I will trust you, I will fall in love with you, I'll let you play the role you were meant to play in my life.

     So here is my promise to you Mitchell Victor McDaniel. I, Paulina Magbanua Libo-on, promise to love you, take care of you, hold you dear, cherish you, help you, support you, and forever remember you. I promise to make you laugh and smile, hold you when you cry, calm you when you are mad, hold your hand when you are alone or afraid, and to be forever supportive, ever present. I promise to never intentionally hurt or betray you. I promise to cater to your emotions and to be forever true.

     If you can promise to do all these things too, truly loving me in the hopes of one day falling in love with each other, then I give you my heart for your own, and all that comes with it; my trust, my love, and all that makes me

                                        My Greatest Love,

                                                             Paulina