Tough Love: Sibling Edition

My older siblings have always shown me tough love. In high-school when my boyfriend went away to college, my brother kept preparing me for the day that this boyfriend would call me and tell me that he cheated on me. I would ignore these ridiculous accusations and just go about my day believing that this boy would never do that to me. How could he? We were in love! Well....lo and behold...he did cheat on me and I was devastated. But not as devastated as I would have been had my brother not been telling me for months that this exact thing was going to happen. I mean, I still ate my feelings, re-read all our love notes, and watched a billion rom-coms, but deep down, somewhere, hidden under layers of sadness, I knew it was coming.

Well, yesterday was Valentine's Day. And I love Valentine's Day. Single or attached - I love it. I know, it's weird but it's probably my most favorite holiday right after Thanksgiving. So, I called my sister to talk to her about this guy that that I might be interested in and who might also be interested in me. In a nutshell? I blathered on about all the potential moments that could have meant that he liked me. And my sister totally shot me down and let me know that he probably just wanted to be friends. Now, today, in retrospect, whether she's right or not, she probably didn't mean it to be mean. She probably was just trying to lower my expectations and bring me back to reality. Which I need sometimes, because I unfortunately have an excessively healthy ego and believe that all men fall in love with me the minute they meet me. Because come on, how could they not?

But yesterday, of all days, the day of love and hearts and hope - my sister totally shut me down! So, I did what any "normal" girl would do. I hung up, went about my night, my bff came over to drink wine and celebrate Valentine's day, and then I cried.

Now, was I crying because it was Valentine's Day and my prospective manfriend was downgraded to a literal man (space) friend? Or was it because I irrationally felt like my sister didn't think this dude could like me? I mean, it hurt my feelings, but did it really merit tears?

I don't know. What I do know is that today I'm looking at things with slightly less rose-colored glasses and my heart feels less fragile in respect to the "he likes me, he likes me not" mantra that has been plaguing me for the past few days.

I guess, what I'm saying is that I should probably thank my siblings for their tough love. It makes me stronger and most of the time pinpoints the thoughts I've already had but chosen to ignore. So, thanks older siblings. I finally get it. You're a-holes because you love me ;)

xoxo
mc