Meet Me Halfway

I am a ridiculous Sylvester Stallone fan.  I can quote Rocky Balboa movies from beginning to end.  I’ve probably seen Rocky IV at least 100 times.  And because of this, I smile when I see an up-n-coming actor/actress rising to stardom, particular when that newbie got their first break and first bit of real public exposure because they were in a Sylvester Stallone movie.

He’s like a temp agency to greatness.  He’s not just Rocky Balboa and John J. Rambo.  He’s also Gabriel Walker, Kit Latura, John Spartan, “Snaps” Provolone, The Toymaker, Robert Hatch, Barney Riggs and so many more characters … not the least of which being Lincoln Hawk – the arm-wrestling trucker he played in the movie “Over the Top” in 1986.

Though the movie was a box office bomb in sales, it had a dynamite soundtrack of songs, one of which being written by Kenny Loggins.  The song was called … Meet Me Halfway.

Because it had a catchy tune and because it came from a Sylvester Stallone movie, I was instantly glued to it – angering the Hell out of my older brother as I played it over and over and over in our childhood.

As I got older, I began to listen to that song for a different reason … because of a message within it that Kenny Loggins didn’t see the necessity in cryptically coding by recording it backwards.  How groovy.

There is a recurring line in the song that states: “Make this the new beginning of another life”.

I’ve always loved that idea.  And with my own broken-record statements like: You are only half of something that is perfect for you, it has always struck a chord within me because of how simplistically it states the value in finding that middle point.  The point where the thought of lifetime is born.

But there are hard truths about it to swallow.

It’s the new beginning of another life, not the next chapter of your life … or of your partner’s life.

If you are no different because of a relationship, if you haven’t grown and evolved together – the chances are: that relationship probably isn’t a very good one for you or for your partner.

And if you think about it, that makes logical sense.  You and your partner come from two different households, having two different upbringings with separate ideas, separate morals and separate values.

So when the two of meet and come together, it’s likely that someone is going to have to do some work.

But if you’re the kind of person who truly believes that: “I shouldn’t have to change anything about who I am in order in please someone else.  They should love me for who I am already.”  – then what this means is:  you are the only person, in the entire history of and since the very invention of the relationship, who hasn’t had to change.

Everybody changes because of love, healthy love … at least.  And why wouldn’t you want to change for someone?  Wouldn’t this make that person completely different from everyone else you have met in life, more meaningful to you than all others?

Likely, your answer would be yes, that you would want to change.  And even more likely, you would want to change for all the right reasons.

So how do you do that?

It’s an interesting question in that it is probably the most important question you need to answer.  It’s so important that you probably shouldn’t avoid or ignore it if you don’t know the answer.  If you do ignore it, karma might bring it back around for you some day.

And here’s the trickiest twist of all:  the answer to that question will be different for each person.

So you’re going to have to find what works for you and what works for your partner or partner-to-be.

But wait!  What was that right there?  … for you and for your partner.  It sounds like you sought to find something in the middle.

And what a brilliant solution you just discovered.

It’s what happens when you meet someone halfway.  It requires two people to not just feel the same way about something, but also to actually do something about it.  There’s a self-governing element that is often overlooked and really shouldn’t be.

I like to use this phrase:  Take and take as much as you want.  But always give back more than you take.  If you always adhere to that policy, you will always know how the other person likely feels.

And how great of a feeling it is when your other half does something for you … not because they felt obligated, but rather, because they wanted to.  And for whatever length of time, they weren’t just thinking of themselves.  They were thinking of you.

Evolving together and finding the exciting new.  To me, that has always seemed like something that could be done for a lifetime.  Not just for a weekend or just for 2 ½ years.

Putting as much into something as someone else is putting into it.  When two people give, there is no take.  You simply give and receive … a wonderful and fulfilling outcome, because you chose to meet someone halfway.

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This is only my opinion.  And maybe it’s a concept you don’t agree with.  I appreciate that.

Not everyone was intended to think the same way about everything.  It is the welcoming of those differences that gives us individuality.  And those differences are just as important as similarities.

Blessings,

Zorro Daddy