What is Love?

February is the end of the Holiday Season--that started in October with Halloween and ends this month with Valentine's Day. So for the next two weeks, Erosden will feature posts about this thing called love. A complex subject matter indeed, it nonetheless has a great impact on our lives.

Years ago, with a different company and occupation all together, I was on an assignment. Some friends and coworkers got together late one night and expounded on the meaning of love. What is it about alcohol and a new environment that makes one wax philosophical? Anyway, it was good mix of single and married and divorced 20 somethings to 40somethings, and somehow, we started talking about love. Past the witching hour, we came to the conclusion that there are three types of love a person experiences in their lifetime--separate from the type of love one feels for family and friends.

You have your First Love: That love you never forget; the first time someone took your breath away, made you feel something in your body and soul you've never felt before. More than a crush, yet it was still innocent, and it was the first time that someone made you aware--that there was something more out there, that there was a feeling of joy that you just wanted to share with this person and this one person only. If you're lucky, it leads to a kiss--a simple contact, innocent but so full of emotion. But it's not so much the kiss that's important. Puppy love, it is special in that it is the first time you have ever felt this way for a single person in the world. That's a feeling you never forget...can never recreate...

Then you have your True Love: This is the first time you've ever felt crazy about someone. This is the first time you've ever loved someone so much it hurts. You connect to each other in a way that changes you to the core. You don't care that your friends think you've become an idiot. You both don't give a damn about what the whole world around you says or thinks about you. This is full on obsession and passion. You get each other and don't even need words to communicate. After all, what words can possibly describe what you truly feel? When you tell this person that you love them, you feel it in the very essence of your being. When you tell this person that you would die for them, you mean it with every fiber of your body. In fact, when you've had a fight or broken up, you've even contemplated--sometimes foolishly attempted--suicide. But when you make up, there is no greater feeling than losing yourself in that ecstatic joy and passion of just being able to touch that person once more. Nothing else matters. And when it was over, you died. You stopped feeling. You become a shell of a person. You've had to bottle up the pain. The emotions are too great. And when you can't hold it in anymore, you cry like you've never cried before, you don't think you can go on. You can't possible live anymore. You can't possibly love again. And it's true, that you'll never, ever love another the way you loved your true love. There may be others you come to love in the future, but no one quite like this. You'll never forget your true love, and when you look back, you'll still feel a deep, if painful yet longing, bond to this person. How could you not? It was a love that changed the very core of your existence. If you're lucky, your true love becomes your forever love.

Forever Love: Forever Love is when you've found the one you can love forever, knowing all their faults. This is the person who'll love you and accept you for who you are. There will be fights, there will be compromises, but you will be there for each other through the good times and the bad, the long haul. They complain about you leaving the toilet seat up or the dirty clothes out of the hamper; they hate your idiotic friends and don't share your enthusiasm for video games. They may piss you off and drive you crazy sometimes, but at the end of the day, you're glad that they are still with you. It is passion tempered with reason. Though it may not be as volatile as your true love. It has a power all its own. With this love, you won't die for another; no, you would kill for each other! It's a different kind of craziness. This time, you let the madness lead you, for the most part. You've seen each other at your best and worst, and you're both fine with this. When you fall, they may not be able to catch you all the time, but they will always help you back up. You realize that this is what makes life worth living.

There you have it. A theory on love made up by a think tank of drunks after a hard day's work. Is it like this for everyone? Probably not. But I can relate.

Before you see today's video, I would recommend stretching your neck. It's going to get quiet the workout. Then afterwards, go visit CyberPete's blog and read his answers to IDV's tag...