Loving Levi
loving levi
I wish I could say that loving Levi is easy.
In every medium available, from movies to television and to books, true love is always portrayed as this wonderful, passionate, all-consuming happiness that is always present. The women talk about how adept their lover is at cooking or at painting or at some other skill that every girl wants in their perfect man. The men talk about how they have never seen a more beautiful woman before in their entire life, how she is funny and sweet and that if they had to imagine their dream girl, she would be it.
The settings for these stories are usually in either a small Southern town (Hello, Nicholas Sparks!) or a busy city like New York City or LA, where the woman is just trying to find her place in the world and— well wouldn’t you know it?—her dream guy is there, too!
There may be some pitfalls and struggles along the way—the movies and books would end a lot sooner, otherwise—but there is always that happily ever after Disney storybook ending.
Without fail, the woman and the man share a passionate kiss at the end of it all and the viewers or readers are to assume that the rest of their story goes swimmingly.
Loving Levi isn’t like that at all. In fact, loving Levi is a day to day struggle.
I met Levi when we were both fifteen. We are twenty-one now and we’ve been dating for five years. Levi has Autism, which has caused lots of problems throughout his life.
Loving Levi is not always wonderful. It is not always passionate. It certainly does not leave me feeling an all-consuming happiness all the time. Levi does not cook—in fact, he burns almost everything he tries to cook. He does not paint, or draw, or play piano, or do anything artistic. We grew up in the suburbs, so in neither a small town nor a big city. Our life is the farthest thing from perfect; there is no Disney fairytale ending in sight.
Loving Levi is the toughest thing I have ever done. It is frustrating, and some days I want to rip my hair out because he frustrates me that much. Some days we yell and scream at each other, and I threaten to break up with him. Some days we hardly ever even talk to each other.
But some days we don’t fight. Some days we watch television together and curl up under our blankets. Some days he sits on the floor while I’m on my bed and we do our homework together. Some days we order takeout and play cards all night; his favorite game is War, and he will never turn down an offer to play it. Some days all he has to do is smile at me and in that moment I feel like I have never felt so loved before.
I take back what I said: I don’t wish that I could say that loving Levi is easy, because it’s the day to day struggles, and the way we get through them, that make us stronger as a couple.
Loving Levi might not be easy, but at the end of the day it is absolutely, 100% worth it.
In every medium available, from movies to television and to books, true love is always portrayed as this wonderful, passionate, all-consuming happiness that is always present. The women talk about how adept their lover is at cooking or at painting or at some other skill that every girl wants in their perfect man. The men talk about how they have never seen a more beautiful woman before in their entire life, how she is funny and sweet and that if they had to imagine their dream girl, she would be it.
The settings for these stories are usually in either a small Southern town (Hello, Nicholas Sparks!) or a busy city like New York City or LA, where the woman is just trying to find her place in the world and— well wouldn’t you know it?—her dream guy is there, too!
There may be some pitfalls and struggles along the way—the movies and books would end a lot sooner, otherwise—but there is always that happily ever after Disney storybook ending.
Without fail, the woman and the man share a passionate kiss at the end of it all and the viewers or readers are to assume that the rest of their story goes swimmingly.
Loving Levi isn’t like that at all. In fact, loving Levi is a day to day struggle.
I met Levi when we were both fifteen. We are twenty-one now and we’ve been dating for five years. Levi has Autism, which has caused lots of problems throughout his life.
Loving Levi is not always wonderful. It is not always passionate. It certainly does not leave me feeling an all-consuming happiness all the time. Levi does not cook—in fact, he burns almost everything he tries to cook. He does not paint, or draw, or play piano, or do anything artistic. We grew up in the suburbs, so in neither a small town nor a big city. Our life is the farthest thing from perfect; there is no Disney fairytale ending in sight.
Loving Levi is the toughest thing I have ever done. It is frustrating, and some days I want to rip my hair out because he frustrates me that much. Some days we yell and scream at each other, and I threaten to break up with him. Some days we hardly ever even talk to each other.
But some days we don’t fight. Some days we watch television together and curl up under our blankets. Some days he sits on the floor while I’m on my bed and we do our homework together. Some days we order takeout and play cards all night; his favorite game is War, and he will never turn down an offer to play it. Some days all he has to do is smile at me and in that moment I feel like I have never felt so loved before.
I take back what I said: I don’t wish that I could say that loving Levi is easy, because it’s the day to day struggles, and the way we get through them, that make us stronger as a couple.
Loving Levi might not be easy, but at the end of the day it is absolutely, 100% worth it.
♠ ♠ ♠
I haven't been writing much lately. If you look at my profile I have over ten ongoing stories, most of which have not been updated for over a year. Sometimes I just write because I feel like it, or because I feel like you deserve to read something. This story... this is the first time I have felt so compelled to write that I had to drop everything and write. It reminds me of when I was writing Finding Jane, which was over five years ago. So, needless to say, this is a big deal for me. I hope you will join me on this journey. Thank you for reading! <3