A New Year

What is the difference between being in love versus loving.  Someone recently asked me whether I was in love with them or whether I just loved them.  And I think the entire concept of that question is out of comparison.

Should the question not be whether I loved them or whether I was merely in love with them?  See, after some thought and of course some googling of the topic, I came across the following comment left by someone answering the same question:

I definitely agree with everyone that there is a difference..

I'm currently in a relationship for 3 1/2 years now.

Yes we fell "in love" together, but "in love" seems to be more about the infatuation stage of love. It's easy to fall "in love" but it's tough to just.. love.. if that makes any sense.

You can fall in love with many different people but there's only so many that you can truly love..

This type of love is the type where you can love the person regardless of the tough times, regardless of the time or distance, and regardless of the person's flaws. If you can pass the "in love" stage, this person is more than just a bf/gf, you begin to take it seriously, and the decisions you make start to involve them.

Now this answer got me thinking and nodding my head in agreement.  Unfortunately at the time the question was posed to me, I was not in this frame of mind and somehow thought that stress could be the reason for no longer being in love.  That with life being so tough sometimes, you forget that carefree feeling of being inlove but that it is indeed hiding somewhere beneath all the baggage.  AND that being in love was the begin and end all of a romantic relationship.

But, being in love is, as it seems, the beginning of a relationship.  But by no means the end of it.  Once the butterflies have died down, the heart not skipping that many beats anymore, if you lucky enough, what you’ll have left is Love.  Love, that as I’m sure many of you have heard at countless weddings, will be there through thick and thin, richer and poorer, through the good times and the bad.

Pure Love….that is my wish to all for  2012….Happy New Year!!