love is love

I think that there are a lot of different kinds of love. I mean, obviously there is friend love and there is family love, but I'm talking about relationship-couple-marriage love. For one, I have never believed in such a thing as a 50-50 relationship. I don't think that it's possible for one person to love the other exactly as much as they love them, if that makes any sense. I believe that most relationships are 60-40, and some even closer, like 45-55. But I just don't think there can be a functioning 50-50 relationship. I'll explain later.

Back to my point about different kinds of love. I think there are two "genres", and then many "sub-genres" that can stem from that, because no two types of love are the same. There's the "head-over-heels" in love, and there's the gradual love. This first kind, you immediately know that you're in love with this person, maybe even at first sight. I've had a lot of my friends fall into this kind of love, and most of them are happily married or on the way. I've never personally felt that kind of love, but I've heard it been described (far too many times, if you ask me). I've heard that it feels like the other person consumes your thoughts, day and night. That person can make your day with just a simple smile, or the sound of their voice. That just the thought of them brings a smile to your lips.

The second kind of love is gradual love. This is the kind of love that takes time. These people don't just "fall in love" and never look back. These people tend to have been hurt before. Maybe even they've been the abusers, so they're wary. They're cautious. They want to make sure that both parties are in it for the long run, and they don't just go throwing the L word around like it's nothing. We're planners. We know "love", but we don't know "in-love". We aren't desperate for love, and we're not necessarily looking, so sometimes when we find it, we aren't quick to realize it. It could be in front of our faces for months, years even, before we take notice or action. We know the pain of hurt, and we don't plan on jumping into it all over again. But just because it takes us longer, and we have to work harder at it, doesn't mean we can't love as deep and as perfectly as the head-over-heels lovers.

After all, love is love.