by
Jerome Dickens
&
JoVonna Rodriguez
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#LoveTaps love taps LOVE TAPS @love_taps Love Taps #LoveTaps love taps LOVE TAPS @love_taps Love Taps #LoveTaps love taps LOVE TAPS @love_taps Love Taps #LoveTaps love taps LOVE TAPS @love_taps Love Taps #LoveTaps love taps LOVE TAPS @love_taps Love Taps #LoveTaps love taps LOVE TAPS @love_taps Love Taps #LoveTaps love taps LOVE TAPS @love_taps Love Taps #LoveTaps love taps LOVE TAPS @love_taps Love Taps #LoveTaps love taps LOVE TAPS @love_taps Love Taps #LoveTaps love taps LOVE TAPS @love_taps Love Taps #LoveTaps
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Also by Jerome Dickens
Wasted Talent
Also by JoVonna Rodriguez
Pronouns
Smashwords E-Book Edition, Copyright © 2012 by Jerome Dickens & JoVonna Rodriguez
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by means electric, mechanical or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America.
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DEDICATION
The power of knowing, accepting, receiving, giving and growing with love.
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#LoveTaps,
e-book, is a collection of tips and advice collected from the public
for Love Taps: Mynes
in response to: “How do
you keep love fun, fresh, and forward moving?”
We never imagined that our love would spread across the pages of a book for others to read, simply because everything we’ve been doing has been so natural. When we originally discussed the idea of writing Love Taps: Mynes, it was simply more of a showcase than anything else. However, as our love continued and we began to work on Love Taps: Mynes, it became something more than just a book. It became a voice of inspiration and creativity for any couple. An outlet for the public to share their opinions on love, and to confess their desires on what’s important in order to keep any relationship, especially a romantic one, forward progressing in the name of love.
Of course we all have different definitions of what love is, what love means, how to love, and when to love. The most valuable lessons for love are those that life’s experiences and interactions teach us. What it felt like to have your first crush in school, your first date, first relationship, and even your first breakup. But essentially, they all rest in the same principle: a deep feeling of caring for someone. Keep this feeling in mind as you explore #LoveTaps. Love should feel good, however it takes work that can be draining at times.
As Love Taps: Mynes developed, we wanted to incorporate the “selflessness” of love within the book, which prompted our requests from the public to lend their advice on love. We started a love campaign branded with the hashtag #LoveTaps on twitter to collect tips. This is how #LoveTaps was born. Yes, love taps are those moments of physical touch, but for us #LoveTaps is so much more. #LoveTaps represent that push forward that is often needed in any relationship. They serve as tips and advice on relationships, touching on what’s important, and things that can be done to foster progression. Love is not an easy battle and sometimes it’s very difficult to make reasonable decisions while emotions are involved. So we hope that these love taps offer a refreshing and personal view on how other’s view love and what it takes to make it work.
To continue rolling with the gift of giving, the selflessness of love, and the joy in paying forward, the proceeds from this e-book will be going towards Armed-with-Art. Armed-with-Art (AWA) is an Atlanta based grassroots organization focused on using artistic mediums as a weapon for social change. Their mission seeks to tackle the negative effects of social issues through the use of various art forms, in order to bring forth change and happiness to those affected, and awareness to those indirectly affected by such issues.
So,
as you take this journey of love with everyone who offered their
advice please keep in mind that there is no manual for love. There
are no concrete rules for
loving someone. There is no model that can be applied to every
relationship except being honest. Being loving is a learned behavior
that everyone must work on. Learning to love your partner is a task
that takes conversation, patience, time, and growth. But love is not
always forever, and excepting that helps you appreciate the small
things that are often taken for granted. Whether you love someone for
one hour, day, month, or year. Love from within. Love from a place of
peace and knowing your wants and desires. Love in a way that you know
you applied yourself, and did your all. Love with contentment that
everything will work out, as they should even if it means it’s not
how you desired. Love with your movements, your speech, and your
patience. Love time, for without it you cannot learn to love. Love
yourself. Love life
~Jerome Dickens & JoVonna Rodriguez
#LoveTaps
143: I Love You
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INTRODUCTION
Our love Story
#Sixwordstories defined my existence on twitter. Months ago. I would push myself to master them over and over. Slowly my thoughts were retweeted for others to read. I smiled inside.
And
one day he hit me. We spoke briefly…I can’t even recall the
topic. And then he disappeared into the Internet world. I never
thought anything of it. I was living in my own world. Ready to
graduate AmeriCorps, planning a vacation to visit family in Savannah,
and brief escape to New Hampshire to get away for the summer.
Everything but him was on my mind.
And
then he slipped right back on my screen. Literally. Somehow
exchanging BBM contacts to only be used once. Then he disappeared
again. I figured life caught him by the horns. And me… I was
already being pulled. So none of this bothered me at all.
He
even deleted me off his contacts.
He
could have been gone forever. Looking back at it all now. But we
reconnected. Again. This time connecting with a conversation that
lasted for hours. It was amazing… in the simplest way we hit on
every aspect of life, music, curiosity, biographical content, and
still he left me clueless to who he was. But I was trapped on what I
could discover.
This
was the start of something beautiful. A friendship built with no
constraints, expectations, or emotions on reserve.
I
can’t name one day that we haven’t spoken since then.
And
even with it all, as both of our worlds seemed drastically different,
our locations were polar opposite, and our emotions and circumstances
relevant, we still managed to block everything out with every
conversation.
He was
tangled in his present…while I was trying to forget my past. We
crossed perpendicular in life. But allowed communication to keep us
parallel.
And
with it all, I didn’t hear his voice until at least a month later.
And he knew just right when to allow me to call. Everything prior to
our first phone conversation was built for a reason. It was the
foundation of our pyramid. And yet even with it all… I felt like I
was still not sure who he was. Learning him everyday was a quest. It
was a journey. It was me learning myself. Because even with
everything I thought I knew about myself and could communicate to
another person…he showed me otherwise.