What love is.

 When I was younger, I had a crush on a guy named Steven. Brown hair, freckles, cocky, rugged, loud. I adored him. When I found out he liked me too, an interesting feeling hit me-the feeling of having someone like you back. I tried to define love, but it was hard.

 Now, obviously, this whole post is not about Steven of the Cute Freckles. That was years ago, when I was 8 or so. I lost touch with him, and haven't talked to him in years. Oh no, this is really about love.

One of my guy friends once asked me, "What's your definition of love?" It freaked me out. I had had a pretty loose definition of love for a while. On me asking him the same question, he replied, "The amount of care for a person that compels one to accept them fully for who they are and gives them the strength of character to deal with issues and solve things instead of giving up."

Well, wow.

That'll take the freaking cake.

But I've spent the past year or so trying to grow into a mature person, and I think love can be construed a lot of different ways now. It would be far-fetched to say I LOVED Steven, even if I liked him a lot. Love takes a lot, and when you're 8, you're not ready to be in love.

Technically, part of a definition of true love, for me, is to be willing to stay with that person, and ONLY that person, all your life. I'm in love, but not love that deep. It's unfair to ask that of anyone at 16, or even a couple years older. It's not easy to reach that level of love until you're talking marriage.

Also, it appears to me that love can mature, if helped. I've heard so many times that older couples love each other now more than the day they were married. Maybe it was going through life together. I guess they may know the secret.

Love is a deep affection for one person, and it's also actions. I, admittedly, still have to work on this. The reason I've been working on being more mature is for, um, love reasons. You might have to change just a little bit for that person, and if you love them, you can do it.

That's another thing. If you love someone-and this applies to friends too-then it's almost your duty to help them, not only through hard times, but through their faults. I'm not saying when you fall in love with someone, you have to make them perfect. You don't have to make them stop biting their nails or dress better. But if they have major faults or problems, it's your job to help them with that, but not to take them over.

Ah, borne of a Sunday afternoon with naught to do. I'm not saying all these things are things you need to do. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe your definition is better. But I think these are ways love can be construed. Pardon my musings.

~Rae <3