Grooming

I'm here to tell you that love bombing is part of abuse.

I'm here to tell you that love bombing is part of abuse.

There, I said it.

We hadn't been chatting more than two weeks before he started telling me he couldn't wait to travel and take flights with me. I don't think I'd even given him my phone number yet. His profile read that his relationships lasted no more than two months and that he was interested in friends with benefits (which I was not at all), but he insisted that this information was old and that he was looking for a long-term relationship this time and he didn't want anything to do with hookups. He verbally aligned himself with any value I stated and the more I heard, the more I hungrily ate it up. I was surprised that someone so affectionate and charismatic wasn't already attached, so I asked him why and he cracked a joke about being, "unlucky".

The gazebo that started it all.

Finally, I decided we had talked long enough to meet up for a date. It went well. Too well. We talked for hours and hours and stargazed under a waterside gazebo. It was late October. The skies were clear an being with him made me not care about the chilly breeze.

I was impressed by his implied ambition, adventurous past and laid-back attitude despite it all. The success he appeared to have achieved inspired me just as much as his dark, earnest eyes and ridiculous giggle. I felt a little like I was punching above my weight, but I was excited to finally be happily paired with someone who cared about his future and could take care of himself!

By the end of the night, the whole charming deal was sealed with a kiss. I returned home stunned that I had gotten so lucky.

If I remember correctly, we didn't meet again for a little while after that, as he was departing on a short trip to New York. However, he told me how grateful he was to have found me and announced that he'd told his friends he was smitten. I reciprocated. He even expressed interest in meeting my family when I proposed the possibility. When I discovered our mutual love for BB-8 and Baymax, I immediately identified him as the sweetest thing in the world.

I was ecstatic - he made me feel ways I'd never experienced before. Everything he said was music to my ears. I thought, "Finally someone is being serious about me and appreciates me as I am!" We deleted our dating profiles. Or at least he said he did. I felt special and I fell hard, but it's probably no surprise to you that none of the things he gushed about doing together ever ended up happening.