What Is Love?

When we were young and naive our notion of love was that it was the endgame; love conquers all. And it did, or it seemed to be the case when one was infatuated with someone. Somehow we were able to see past the obstacles. Ain't no mountain high enough, and love would find the way and lead us down the path of happily ever after. In our minds there was always a solution no matter how much reality and society tried to keep love birds apart.

As we got older and wiser, (say entering the gateway of our 30's) a growing suspicion accompanies every twinge we feel with our heart strings. Was that butterflies or indigestion? We were told to listen to the other voice inside us that we ignored in our youth, but all it did was make us second guess everything. Suddenly factors we'd never consider, but our parents used to nag about, rose to the forefront of our decisions about our feelings regarding a special someone.

Yet, if we're rationalizing our feelings, are they really feelings anymore? Explaining our feelings to ourself is like flambeing a Baked Alaska and we end up with a gooey mess after the good part of the rum evaporates. Despite all that, the worst part of defining our true feelings is buying in to the cynicism of self preservation. "Yes, geography is an issue; we are literally a world apart. Yes, communication is an issue; we dont' know what's going on in each other's lives." And the list goes on. Soon, we talk ourselves out of the possibility of any future with this person whereas our younger egos would have thought of relocating and saw the move as an adventure or found creative ways to open up the channels of communication. How do we expect anyone to meet anyone half way if both give in to their internal debates of pragmatism?

As the years go by, will our view on love stay the same or will it revert back to our youthful optimism? Perhaps it will evolve to take on another form of hybrid cynicism? In any case, at any age, whether it is to find a solution to keep that luvin' feeling or to strap on a parachute while free falling we have to agree that when we hear the question, "What is love?" the answer in our minds is inevitably "Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more" (followed by some crazy wailing).