Who's that cute frog over that lilypad?

I found some old love letters today.

From not just one ex-boyfriend, but three. And all from the 1990s which is the era where people still write love letters - by hand. Such a rarity that my mum has deemed it necessary to store them away in a shoebox for me.

Love letters are by nature supposed to make you feel all loved-up and mushy. On the contrary, I was cringing like mad after re-reading them and here’s why:

Dearest Honey,

Hey, I’m sorry if I spoilt your last week but hey, I hope you like the gift because I like it and you will too. And I went out with Karen to get it so you see, don’t jump to any conclusions. Just understand I’m like that. So live with it. Hehe.

(I take that back. I'm not sure if this is even a love letter. My week was probably spoilt by his alleged philandering with this so-called Karen and any guy who says “hey” (twice) in a letter to his girlfriend indicates he's kind of a jerk anyway. And the “Hehe” at the end looks like it was thrown in for good measure only. From what I remembered of him, he was kinda obnoxious…. which is of course why I went out with him in the first place. Gaaks.)

The second one is slightly more romantic in a morose kinda way….

To the only one,

By the time you are reading this, I’m the way to the airport with a broken heart. Let me tell you something, the best thing I got so far from this university is YOU and you’re the type of girl, I should not let you go. I’m waiting for you to tell me we are still going out when I come back. I will wait forever.

(Yes, he’s a totally sweet dude but no, he didn't wait that long. He had a new gf the next semester.)

And the third one gets even more dramatic:

My love,

Before you do anything to ignore this letter, please read its content no matter how bad you must hate me. I really wish that you won’t end this because of my mistake and if you’ll just give me a try, I’ll prove myself worthy of you. You mean the world to me and I will show you.

(He showed me alright. He and his friends stalked me three years after.)

Three very different men. Three very different relationships. Three very different phases in life. One commonality: an irresolute princess.

They say the life of a princess involves a lot of amphibian kissing. With every frog she kisses, she gets that much closer to finding her proverbial prince.

Funny how it feels like I have done my fair share of running around the pond yet I am still roughly about 1,457,864 frogs away from The One.