Beauty and the Beast

When I was young, Beauty and the Beast was my favourite story.

Belle was how I imagined a grown-up me to look. 

She was kind but she didn't fit in with those around her.

She wore blue which was my favourite colour.

And she loved to read and found solace in books, as I too did.

Belle seemed perfect to me.

And her prince?

The Beast was just the right person for her, I mean he gave her a whole library!

But Belle had to learn to love him.

And that.
That was a defining idea in my childhood, one that shaped me.

I, like Belle, could love anyone if put in the right circumstances.

 I was certain that Belle could even love Gaston if she tried. 

As I grew older I was aware of the people around me, and aware of the adult relationships in my life.

I watched how aunts and uncles, cousins and family friends acted in their relationships with their spouses and mentally took notes. 

I questioned everyone on their stories of how they ended up together.

I watched how they treated each other.

Then I would mentally gather all this data I had collected to find the "perfect story".

By comparing their story of how they fell in love with how they now treated each other I found that the best marriages started with friendship.

The couples that seemed the happiest were those where they had began as friends and eventually realized there was something more there. 

From there I took it upon myself to try and foster friendships with the boys I knew. 

Even if they were mostly dumb I was willing to look past that to try and develop these friendships.
Not that I was looking for love at such a young age, 

but I was investing time in learning how to be friends with boys, so that someday I would be friends with the right boy and we would fall in love.

That all sounds very calculated, but this is coming from the girl who found her heroes in Belle, Hermione and Matilda, so such actions are to be expected.

As I grew older, I realized that the boys were just getting dumber.

Not every boy, but at the time the majority seemed to be. 

So I gave up my pursuits for a while. 

And focused on me and my plans for a mission.

But as I become college-aged I took stock of my life one day and realized that my best friends were of the opposite gender.
Not that I didn't have plenty of girl friends, but just as prominent in my life were my male friends.

And I realized that my philosophies have changed in the past ten years.

I still believe that the best relationships spring forth out of friendship and the person I will marry someday should be the person I consider my best friend. 

I still believe that you can love anyone if given the opportunity.

And I still believe that Belle is one of the very best princesses.

But I have realized there is so much more to be gained from friendships with guys than simply an investment of time in deciding if I could love so and so, or becoming better at being friends with guys in preparation for the future.

My friendships with these young men have taught me so much.

I have been able to see first-hand what a worthy Melchizedek Priesthood holder looks like in a young adult.
I have seen,

Sensitivity

Compassion

Christlike Love

Service

Clean and Mature Humour

Charity 

Forgiveness

Scholarship

Integrity

Ambition

Priesthood

And love from these young men I have associated with.
Far from the immaturity I saw in the boys of my youth, I now see these young men as 

Sons of a Loving Heavenly Father,

 a title they have always had and deserve to be known as. 

And though I am not in love with any of them, there is a purpose in these friendships. 

These young men bring me closer to my Saviour through their examples. 

(That previous sentence sounded quite pretentious. I would just like to clarify that there are many reasons to be friends with guys besides simply trying to fall in love with them. I was just referring back to my thoughts concerning this matter as a 10 year old, when I felt that by 20 I would be so very old and would be leaving a doting boyfriend behind as I left on a mission.)

So to the young men reading this, I just want to say thank you.

And to the young women reading this, I would encourage you to step out of the sisterhood bubble and become friends with some of the amazing young men in your YSA, your class or your neighbourhood. 

You will be amazed at how great life is with guy friends by your side.