Love, Love, and Love (Part Two)

"Love is great when you find

somebody to give it to."

Quote credit to Chris Myrick. Now that I have avoided the topic of romantic love, I actually do want to address my feelings on this. First, let me rant a moment.

I have been used and abused when it comes to love. I have been lied to, cheated on, had my heart broken and stepped on. Multiple times. So when it comes to love, I try to be a little wary now. I told myself I'd take my time and fall slowly, afraid to be hurt again. Turns out that goal went down the hole. (But that's another story for another time. Oh, and just to be clear, I'm currently very okay with that goal not working out. It ended up being incredible <3 )

I actually did a little bit of reading on this to get other people's opinions, and have come to my own conclusions about how I feel concerning the topic of romantic love.

First, you can not love in a romantic way if you do not first have the following: love for self; love for family, love for freinds, and security love. Let me explain security love (the rest are pretty obvious, I'm sure). Security love is that human need to be loved. That feeling of being nurtured and cared for. Everybody is born with it. In a sense, you can say this is familial love, but I put it in a different category. It can come from anywhwere (even the knowing that God loves you is enough and belongs categorized as such).

Second, romantic love consists of a combination of love and lust. Romantic love can have all those stereotypical qualities. The 'butterfly' feeling and giddiness. It's a need and desire for your partner. Yes, that means in emotional and physical ways. It is powerful and overwhelming. Often times, the mind is consumed with thoughts of your significant other. And I believe that this is where most relationships end. The romantic love fizzles out and either is ruined by somebody's actions (for example, when I was cheated on, all love I felt for that person was gone) or it faded back into a different kind of love (more times than not, freindship or security).

But lasting relationships following to the third step. Unconditional love. This is where a solid foundation has been set for the couple. There is a certain bond there, that is an exemplified version of romantic love. The well-being of the other is constantly on your mind and you only desire to please them, make them happy. You fight for and with each other. And no matter what happens in your relationship or what your situation may be, you never give up. Never. Because you  know in your heart that it will all be worth the struggles and facing the obstacles, the challenges, will only bring you closer together, make your relationship stronger, and bring you more happiness.

 Maybe. . .maybe maybe. . . I'm starting to find out what that unconditional love feels like.

For awhile there, I thought I did. But it was proven wrong. It was just romantic. It stopped when struggles came through. There was no effort to keep trying and push there. I tried just for the security sake, but truly didn't want to. I could feel that it just wasn't going to happen. When I fight and there's nobody fighting beside me, I have to give up. So I did.

There's somebody unexpected who just kind of swept into my life and took over and wow. It's been incredible so far. It's different from what I've ever experienced. There's a maturity and understanding involved this time. And there's a true commitment. There's sacrifice. And most importantly there's a willingness to fight. A desire to make things work even with the obstacles we are currently facing. This person has gained so much respect from me in such a short period of time through his actions. He's willing to be with me even though it's hard. There's also this absolute sense of trust. I've been able to tell him things I haven't really told people and I know that I can continue to do so (and hopefully he knows he can trust me the same way!!!) I don't know where this relationship is going, but I think it's off to a great start. <3

Much love and hugs,

Sam