My ex sent me a message while I was on vacation (yes, on vacation!!) telling me to never contact him again and if I ever see him on the street to completely avoid him. Needless to say I was a wreck after reading this email. It’s easy to say that I should have just brushed it off and told myself that I don’t want to see or talk to him anyway (which is the case…), but it still felt like a punch in the gut. I cried, I couldn’t sleep, I was listless. Paris was the next day and I couldn’t even be excited. Roll that all together and then I was pissed. I was about to go to Paris and I was crying over some dude who I don’t even want to be with anyway (insert a big fat “duh, you idiot” right here). 

Once we touched down in one of the most beautiful places in the world, ex boyfriends and rude emails slowly drifted away. On the second morning, my friends and I met an absolutely lovely French boy who took us to dinner and drinks that night, then spent his work break helping us to purchase items for a picnic and took us to a sweet little square in the middle of the city to enjoy our food and each others company. He was 19 and wanted to practice his English, so throughout the weekend we all spent hours eating, talking, and laughing. 

Daniel was an absolute gentleman. He spoke to all of the shop owners for us, found places where we wanted to go, opened doors, made sure we crossed the road with no trouble, etc. He wasn’t trying to date us or sleep with us; he was legitimately being a nice person. It made me think…why isn’t every guy this nice?? Why would I settle for someone who doesn’t treat me this way all of the time?? 

I don’t want to date a 19 year old in France, but I do want to date a guy who acts and treats me like this young man did. I don’t need to be swept off my feet by grand gestures, but I would like my heart to flutter a little faster with nice, thoughtful, and caring gestures. I look forward to finding that person who’ll want to make me happy and will do things out of the kindness of his heart.