Love

It has been a long time since I posted, simply because life is so busy.

But a short but touching conversation on Facebook ensued today, and now that I am between doing grades and preparing for a (hopefully) relaxing weekend, I want to post it.

Friend 1:

I came across this quote today and I could relate so much ha! :

"Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses. You build up a whole armor, for years, so nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life... You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' or 'how very perceptive' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a body-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. Nothing should be able to do that. Especially not love. I hate love" - Neil Gaiman

Friend 2:

Love is overrated, yet I can't get enough of it. Now, that I think about it, it's not that much different than Fettucine Alfredo with clams.

Me:

Wow. That quote is perfect to what I am feeling regarding my relationship with Scott. I am so not anxious to try it again.

Friend 3:

Oh, how much I enjoy Neil Gaiman. Believe it or not, that's from a comic book.

Friend 4:

I have to disagree. Love is wonderful. Love is ennobling and uplifting. Love makes you strive to be better and bless the life of another person. Love is beautiful.

Friend 5:

He is right, love can be beautiful. What Neil is talking about is "unrequited love" which is another thing entirely. And the hard part, as Sarah's situation so achingly exemplifies, is loving a person so completely that you are willing to take the hurt, the pain, the humiliation while everyone else watches you---and sometimes while NO ONE knows--- and keep plodding along. Even though inside you feel like you're being ripped apart, but for love of that person you take it, calmly, patiently, with some hope that one day he or she will understand what you have done for him/her. Even walking away from someone you love can be an act of love, if you know it will make that person happy to be free to find another . . .

I could not have put it better myself. I am grateful for good friends that can help me feel--and understand what I feel.