Love is delicate.

{Post 30/365: Original Post: I AM LOVE}
Love is strong yet delicate.
It can be broken.
To truly love is to understand this.
To be in love is to respect this.
~ Stephen Packer ~  

Trust is a fragile thing. Once broken it CAN be fixed and renewed but, for many it is a LONG, HARD road there. I, myself, lack the strength to follow that path.
Some people can be betrayed and forgive and move on many times. Some have a "three strikes your out" kind of rule.  Maybe, others like me, have a ONE time mistake kind of deal.  For me, it really depends on the person who has betrayed me I think, and the degree to which I feel such betrayal.  But, usually a person only gets ONE chance to show me who they are and that they can be a person I can trust.
I am not talking about acquaintances or chat buddies or casual types of friends.
I'm talking about the people I would choose to go the distance with me.
The people I want to know have my back, understand my needs and faults and quirks and will decide to "keep" me anyways...no matter what because they VALUE me.
The people I can trust with my joys and sorrows equally.
The people I would trust with my life and more importantly my heart.
My intimate, vulnerable, soft heart.
I would forgive.
I would still talk.
I would still care.
I would still be polite.
I would still encourage and support and be sweet to them.
But, internally and deeply inside I would NEVER again be the same.
I know that people make mistakes.
I know that people make stupid choices sometimes.
And I would understand and forgive and move forward but, I would never again be able to trust them with 100% conviction.
I would always have an understanding deep inside myself that THEY did not value me as much as I did them.  That they deliberately and knowingly decided to betray my trust and faith in them for a selfish reason.
That is human. It happens. It can be forgiven.
But, not always by me.
Perhaps that is a flaw of my own.
Perhaps it is a big one.
Then again, I would not purposefully nor intentionally betray anyone's trust in ME.
Since I have a few friends who can also say the same I KNOW that it IS possible for other people to choose to commit to that very same strength of WORD.
I value THEM.  
Love and trust are deeply connected and without one it is very very difficult to keep the other intact and strong. So my advice is...keep your word, don't betray your trust, and when you say I love you...MEAN IT!