Make Up/Makeup/Can't Make It Up

Make Up

When a man with whom you are in love comes to you, at long last, with an open heart and asks you take a leap of faith, what do you do? Do you hesitate, doubting, questioning, fearful of being hurt again? Do you take the leap and never think twice? Or something in between? If you're me you close your eyes, cross your fingers, kiss him, and jump.  You make up, and make love, and hope for the best. After proceeding with cautious optimism for a probably-not-long-enough amount of time, you may find yourself driving one day, as I did yesterday, smiling harder than you have in recent memory. You just may catch yourself thinking, "This might be really real this time. This time, it really might be."

Makeup

What is it about a man looking at you with desire and saying, "You don't need any makeup," that makes it the greatest compliment on the face of the planet? Sitting in the passenger seat of his car, bare cheeks illuminated by the lit up dashboard instruments, he kisses you goodnight and you feel beautiful - without having taken any steps to look especially beautiful. The ability to be comfortable in your own skin, imperfect as it invariably is, is a rare commodity in a romantic relationship. It was the nicest thing a man has said to me in a very long time. Because it was genuine.

Can't Make It Up

The journey that has brought me to this point has been difficult. Back and forth and up and down and full of laughter and tears. I know that any number of things could go wrong -- including things I have had some indication of already, and those things which will inevitably come as a surprise. But I'll never know how the story ends until I actually let it begin. I can't make it up, I just have to live it.