Love or something like it –Part II

Does anyone really know what is love? I think someone sang about that in the ‘80’s....But getting back to reality, the Oxford dictionary 1982 published version’s definition of love is “a warm liking or affection.” Does this summarize what most of us feel or have felt for that significant other at some point in our life, or is it just scratching the surface? Do we ever really feel this undying love or affection or are we just going through the motions, trying to protect ourselves from any in-depth feeling, in the fear of baring our soul and leaving ourselves exposed, or worse yet “locked down” too soon? Is this feeling fleeting and only experienced in a novel way at the beginning of a relationship or do we feel these emotions throughout our relationship or marriage? For married couples I think this is different, where both partners have grown accustomed to each other over time and have developed a respect or affection for the other, with the capacity to ignore the other’s flaws. Whether or not it is carried on throughout the duration of the marriage varies from couple to couple but in most healthy marriages, the feeling is always there, but partners go through different phases even before they reach the ‘happily ever after.’ ...

The beginning ‘happy phase’ ... (c)