Love is nothing until it is everything.

Sorrow is nothing until it is everything.

I didn't know what they meant. But then my life changed. And in the end I understood.

***

It was the beginning of junior year. Two more years and I would be leaving the school for good. I went to my first class, A.P. Physics. It took me some time to find my class, and when I did, there weren't many seats left. I sat by a guy I had never seen before.

Then the class began, and we got our wonderful assigned seats. Turns out I sat by the guy again. What a coincidence. That day was soooo boring. Our teacher just said what the class is about and gave us these know me sheets to fill out. As you imagine, pretty soon, we were done and started talking. I turned to the guy next to me and saw him looking at me. We started talking. The guy's new, name's Bryant Woolf.

I had about all of my classes with him. Bryant was really nice and funny. I could actually talk to him, unlike Ryan Elis, who I could never truly have a coversation with. Bryant and I quickly became friends. We were unseparatable.



In November, Bryant asked me out. I said yes, knowing we would still be friends if we broke up. Those were fun times. Bryant always knew what I liked. We often went to amusement parks and the like. I fell in love with him in December.

I was born in December, to be exact, December 5. Bryant gave me a dozen roses plus a furry bear that I'd had my eye on for some time. That was when I fell in love with him. I totally loved furry animals, and I didn't know how he knew that. The roses was just pure romantic. Those were symbols of his love for me, and I couldn't help falling in love with him. How can you not, when he had those beautiful light brown eyes, his wonderful voice, his sweet personality... He was in short, perfect, at least to me.

That was when I understood one of those phrases: Love is nothing until it is everything. I always took love for granted, that it would eventually come when you find the right guy. However, I realized I never truly understood love. But when Bryant became everything to me, my world, my life, I knew what love is. And I understood what they meant by love is nothing until it is everything.



Little did I know I wouldn't have Bryant for long. The year went by in a blur. Valentine's Day was wonderful. He gave me a heart-shaped box of dark chocolate, my favorite, another dozen roses, another furry bear, and he treated me to a romantic dinner. That was the best Valentine's Day I've ever had. I wouldn't even have minded if I all had was a day with Bryant. That would have been enough for me, spending time with him, for he meant everything to me. I had the foolish notion that I could have Bryant forever.



It was time for prom. I went shopping for a dress with my friends, finally deciding on a pink sleeveless dress with these embroidered chinese flowers on part of it. On prom night, Bryant rent a white limo and picked me up. He had on a white tux and had gotten me a rose corsage. We then went to one of our favorite restuarants to eat. That would be the last time we ate together.

After the dinner, we went to school. And that was the greatest Prom I would ever know. Bryant and I had so much fun dancing together, sharing drinks, making out, and just sitting together. So what if we weren't crowned Prom King and Prom Queen? Doing those things with Bryant were enough to satisfy me.



The next day, a phone call woke me up. I thought it would be Bryant, but it turned out to be his mom. And when she told me what had happened, I dropped the phone in shock. It couldn't be true. Bryant can't be dead, not when we were going to get married and spend the rest of our lives together.

Later that day, I went to Bryant's house. I found out that as he was driving home, a drunk driver hit him. He had suffered severe internal injuries, and he couldn't be saved, not with our insufficient technology. That was when I understood the second phrase: Sorrow is nothing until it is everything.

I attended Bryant's funeral, of course. Seeing him lying there, peacefully, broke my heart. I thought I knew what sorrow was. Oh yeah, I was sorry when my best friend lost her boyfriend, when I accidentally ruined my mom's tax return, but I didn't truly know what sorrow is. I now knew true sorrow. I had lost Bryant, the love of my life, who had meant everything to me. I finally understood what they meant by sorrow is nothing until it is everything.

***

This is my tale, of what happened that changed my life forever. I hope you, the reader, never have to go through my pain of losing the thing most dear to your heart. I hope you never experience what I have experienced.

Love is nothing until it is everything. I have experienced that. That is a wonderful thing to experience, and I'm sure everyone will, at least once in a lifetime.

Sorrow is nothing until it is everything. I have experienced that. That is something no one should ever have to experience, for it is the loss of the thing most dear to one's heart. Experiencing that means the ultimate loss.