Love This

For the most part, I'm pretty cynical about all things related to loooove.  Give me a break.  BUT, much to my friend's dismay, I do believe that love stays forever.  Yup: forever.  We had a very intense, stunted (because Frank crashed the car) conversation about love and all the issues surrounding love.  What started as a literary chat about whether saying, "I love you" repetitively, once felt, is redundant or necessary, quickly morphed into this guttural outpouring of whether or not love lives once it has, you know, died.

Yes, yes it does.  And that is the end of that discussion.

How can love go away?  How can I feel something that fundamentally changes me forEVER and then just NOT feel it anymore?  How can I LOVE someone and then NOT love them?  It's not possible.  Maybe it's romantic (god forbid) and a bit strange to you (cynic!), but I really do think that love lasts as long as we do.

If in a moment of complete disagreement, whereby your fundamental values are shaken to the core, you believe for an instant that you might actually despise your lover, does the hate overshadow the love? Sure it does!  The hate wins over; the disgust is certainly the more predominant emotion, but the love never goes AWAY.

And this is true for all of you who I've loved (if I've really loved you.  Whoops, that's the one caveat: I actually have to BE in love to STAY in love).  I love my friends now and when we fight just as much as I did when we last commiserated about breakups and agreed on the best taupe toenail polish colour.  I love my ex just as much now, from afar where we can be totally happy independently, as when lay on the grass and talked about getting married. 

Love doesn't go away; it changes.  It morphs into something I can handle and something I can think about without wanting to cry all the time.  It develops into this wonderful, compact-yet-at-times-all-encompassing compartmentalized treasure.  I can open it up and look upon it fondly.  It's awesome.

Enough already...I sound totally romantic.  I can only handle so much.  

So in the spirit of all things lovey and dovey, I remind you that only the lucky ones have matching tattoos and leave you with this...

Image courtesy of Bippity Boppity Boo 

Conversely, I'm also feeling completely and utterly down with this entirely glum English weather.  Even though I haven't been here for the whole time, it has been raining for FOUR weeks on a virtually continual basis.  Ew.  Walks to school SUCK in the rain, especially since I left my good umbrella at the top of the castle in Heidelberg and had to revert to the crap-tastic one I had from when I first arrived in Jolly Olde.  Balls.  

Anyway, because of the sudden onset of what must surely be SAD, I'm really feeling this must-be-NYC apartment.  The area inside is my dream desk and outside, my dream garden overlooking what must be my dream(y) city.  Yup, this is where I'd much rather be...

Image courtesy of Wit + Delight

I hope you're feeling the love today :)