The Sweat Gland Theory of Love

Someone once told me that sweat glands mature during the first two years of life, in that the climate that we are born into shapes our comfort level for the rest of our lives.
I enjoy stretching this idea to all new experiences: our first friends and first loves probably have a disproportionate effect on future understandings.
If we have only had two partners, the first partner (for better or for worse) makes up fifty percent of the data we’re trying to model romantic relationships with. Things that went wrong will take a long time to unlearn but luckily, things that went right probably propagate into the future just as strongly.
“She was lucky to have you as her first boyfriend” – some grateful father, somewhere.