Someday I will be the woman I long to be. But for now, I am selfish and I need to know, can you love me for me?

Can you fall in love with me, and not just the potential of me? Can you put up with my shenanigans without the hope that I will someday “straighten out?”

Can you love me for who I am now?

Someday I long to be a successful author, but I need you to love the me who works in a restaurant. The me who writes unappreciated poetry. The me who has dreams, and is living life the best way she can.

You say I can do amazing things, but I need to know that you love me before I do.

Can you fall passionately in love with me in the raw, work-in-progress that I am? Can you adore me before I am garnished with experiences, degrees, accomplishments and knowledge?

Don’t romanticize your love with thoughts of how I will someday be; please, just love the ordinary me.

Can you love me now? Can you appreciate the mess that I am?

Love me before my makeup is on for the day. Love the morning version of me—an oversized T-shirt hanging off my shoulders, with my frizzy hair, dark circles and unbrushed teeth. Fall in love with the me who is rolling out of bed and stumbling around in search of coffee. Don’t just adore the me who is ready to conquer the day with her second cup in hand.

Be in awe of me as if I have already reached my potential. Don’t cheat on me with fantasies of the future me—the woman you think I will be.

Fall in love with the unedited me. The rough drafts and the throwaways. Love me for my failures, my efforts and my frustrations.

Love me while I am getting my sh*t together—not waiting for the distant fantasy of me with my sh*t already together. Don’t fall in love with that mirage.

Love me on the side of the road when I run out of gas; love me searching for my keys. Love me living out of boxes because I hate unpacking.

Love me the way I am, with no hopes of changing me.

Love me on my worst days. Don’t pray for the rain to leave; love me on my stormy days, my dark days and my moody days. Love me when my world is crashing down, not just when I am on top of the world.

Fall in love with the journey you are on with me—love me the whole way there. Every damn day. Allow the journey to be just as beautiful as the destination, because what if we get lost along the way?

Can you love me for me, not just what I could someday be? If I stay the same, will you be content with my mess?

Take me as I am. Battered, scattered, weird and disheveled.

Don’t fall in love with my potential, fall in love with me.

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Relephant Read:

Loving the Person & Not the Potential.

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Author: Emily Cutshaw

Editor: Toby Israel

Image: Michelle Garayburu/Flickr

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