[MUSIC PLAYING] Can you hear me?

Yes, I can.

All right.

Tell us your name and where you're from.

My name is Tysha.

I'm Dr. Peter James Smith I'm Dr. Peter James Smith My name is John.

I'm Dr. Peter James Smith I'm from East Brunswick.

I'm from East Brunswick.

My name is Stanley Myers from Sayreville, New Jersey.

My name is Willow Brown.

And I'm from Red Bank, New Jersey.

There's no state more vocal about how it thinks, feels, remembers, loves, or lives like New Jersey.

New Jersey, you see, is a place for people with plain spoken, often profound, and always point blank points of view.

How would you describe yourself?

An average guy.

A bit quirky.

Artistic.

Sensitive person.

I'm a hick.

I like playing in the mud.

OK. Wow.

This is Here's the Story, "The Voices of the People."

[ MUSIC ] Tell me about the first time you fell in love.

I moved to a new development, and I was walking down the street.

And my parents had just gotten-- my parents were divorced, but my father had just bought a house with a new woman, which meant that my mother was like really gone.

And I saw just the most beautiful girl walking down the street, and I fell in love with her and stayed in love with her for a long, long time.

What was that feeling like when you realized, holy cow, feeling the feelings that people talk about for the first time?

Did you realize it that way?

Yeah, because I guess I had known about romance and literature and song, so I knew it was coming.

And I would search for it.

So I guess there's a difference between when you are in school and going through the motions and you like this girl and this girl's this to the difference of sharing a deep, deep bond with somebody and love meaning that.

Love not just meaning that someone that you like and you enjoy their company or you're attracted to, but love then suddenly becomes somebody that you're closer with than anybody else in the world by a mile.

Ouch.

I was 21, and I thought I was going to be for keeps.

And it didn't quite go that way.

And that's when my mom found out about my story.

And here I am, an adult male, and I found my true love now, Ryan.

Do you remember the first time you fell in love?

Yeah, probably.

I actually can't remember her name, but I remember it was in high school.

And she was a year older than me and a head cheerleader, and I honestly don't remember her name.

The first time I fell in love-- I was a kid.

I was 16, so I thought it was the end of the world.

It was a connection like I've just never had at that time.

It was just-- felt totally at peace with this person, incredibly connected.

And this is going to sound weird, but both proud to be connected with her and proud about who she was and the potential.

And just-- she was a remarkable woman.

And I really felt that we were really well connected.

And all aspects of the relationship just seemed that way, but then it just ended.

I don't know why.

[SIGHS] That's a great question.

It's this girl in high school, and it was complicated because she had a lot going on.

I didn't want to go all the way into that, but the more time I spent around her, the more I really cared for her in spite of it all.

That ended up how it ended up, but it was definitely a pretty eye-opening thing to go through that for the first time.

And everyone's got their first.

You learn a lot from it.

And unfortunately for the vast majority of people, it turns into a mess, and then you move on.

We actually made trips down here to Seaside, and we still have dates down here.

And we went to Point Pleasant as well.

And I don't know, some random Tuesday, he was like, yeah, I just don't want to be with you anymore.

No way.

Yeah.

It was crazy Yeah.

It was crazy Do you ever hear from him anymore?

Yeah, he came back twice, and I was like, oh no, no Oh no, no, no, no.

Good for you.

One of you tell me about your first time you fell in love.

Personally, I haven't, so I can't-- You've never been in love?

No.

What are you waiting for?

Yeah, my wife.

Really?

She's your first.

Prior to that, I've never felt in love.

How long ago?

2013.

What's that myth?

25.

How'd you meet her?

I met her at a club.

Old school.

Old school.

Love at first sight?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Both of you?

Oh, wow.

Yeah, yeah.

You met her and you said, I'm going to marry that girl.

No, no.

Somebody kissed that girl.

No, it's PBS.

One step at a time, right?

One step at a time.

I keep thinking it's HBO.

I keep thinking it's HBO.

Kissing's OK.

Kissing's good.

OK, here's another question.

Do you remember the first time you fell in love?

Yes.

Anything you want to say about it?

No.

Is there a time you ever fell in love?

Oh, man.

I'd have to say I was 15.

I was in high school.

I remember seeing this one girl in class.

I really wanted to talk to her.

I didn't know really what was going on.

Then I remember after class, right after, before lunch, I went to go ask her for some food, maybe to eat up together, right, in the lunchroom.

She said, nah, it's OK. You can have mine.

I was like, OK, so we split down the middle.

Right after, we went back home, showed up, and smoked a little bit, showing up.

That's right.

Wow.

That was a good first date.

Right, it was.

What happened with her?

We grew old.

We got older, you know?

Time splits each other apart, but brings them back together, you know what I mean?

You ever see her?

No, I don't.

It's all right, though.

It's OK. Because maybe she loves someone else just as much as she did before with me, right?

Sure.

That's right.

When I was in high school.

High school?

Yeah.

How'd you meet her?

Through a friend.

Did it last?

No.

How long did it last?

About two years.

Pretty long for high school.

Yeah.

What happened at the end?

Oh, it was messy.

Yeah.

It was messy?

Yeah.

That probably broke me.

Finally ending it, that was like a curving stone in my life.

You feel like you're changed after that.

Yeah.

Every time I think of how I mess up in a relationship now, I think it all goes back to how I was traumatized from that one person and how I never healed from that.

So I guess I continue that line of trauma, which I'm trying to break now, obviously.

This is my boyfriend.

So we're breaking the trauma bonds now.

I still think of her and still wonder what happened.

Do you want to give us her name and maybe she'll be watching this?

I'll just say it's Terry.

But I won't say Terry T. So Terry, if you're out there-- I will say that.

But I don't think they are.

But I have been fortunate that I have since then had some people in my life that have really, I think, the same thing about the connection and the deepness and the love that's there.

That was the first time.

But that was the first time that I would say, I really thought this must be what it's all about.

Because, man, I felt connected.

And I actually thought she did, too.

That's why I was just confused.

[MUSIC PLAYING] (gentle music)