jacob

today, in a book conference with one of my 8th grade students, we discussed the differences between edward's love and jacob's love. (for all of you non-tweens, we were discussing the twilight saga). i have always been on team edward. i have loved the bella-edward love story since day one. but my twelve year old companion, put up a great argument for jacob...and for this i love my job. she explained to me that yes, edward did love bella, but really, bella loved edward more than life itself. she would do anything just to catch a glimpse of him--she risked death, her family, her home, all in the name of loving edward. and he appreciated her, but at the end of the day, he left her when she needed him most, and he needed her to change. jacob, on the other hand, was a part of her world every day. he never asked her to sacrifice anything. he was there, like a rock. he was there as her friend, as her protector, as a member of her family, all the time. he never left her, even when she didn't give him everything he needed. he loved her in her current state, and never asked her to change into anything new for him.
and that conversation casually changed my life. i looked at my student and i told her she was right. that as she grew up, she needed to look for a jacob black. and she needed to appreciate him and love him and allow him to love her just the way she was.
i've spent my days chasing my edward cullen. the truth is, i've already had my jacob black, and i let him slip away. in real life, our jacob blacks are never as cute as our edwards, and they usually don't have his amazing abs, but they'll love us forever, just as we are. and that is amazing.