What is Love?

Baby, don't hurt me. Don't hurt me, no more.


Ok, sorry. I needed to get that out of my system.


But really, what is love? It is such a universal feeling, yet one of the most unique emotions one could ever experience. The feeling of love is entirely different for every single person, yet remarkably the same worldwide. If love is such a universal emotion, why is it so hard to describe? Because, to quote Michelle from American Wedding, Love isn't just a feeling. Love is something you do.

As I crawled into bed next to my already-sleeping man friend tonight, about two minutes before I was overcome with this strong urge to write about this very moment, I thought to myself, and this is exactly what love means. Even in his sleep, he lifted his arm up and shifted so I could curl up next to him in my special spot and wrap myself around him. This feeling, this indescribable feeling, is how I know I want to spend the rest of my life with this man.

But aside from this quintessential moment, love is:

• When my man friend can make me laugh every single day. Even when I'm mad at him, he makes me
  laugh. Sometimes just the dumbest things have me rolling in laughter, but it doesn't matter.

The caption for this on Facebook was "As long as you make me laugh every day,
I think I can keep you." Seems fitting enough.

• Genuinely enjoying each other's company. A friend of mine once saw an older couple in a bar having a lot of fun together. She asked if they were married. They said yes, and it had been for many years. She told them she was so surprised and thought they were having an affair because they seemed they were so genuinely enjoying each other's company. I can only hope I will get the same experience.
• Walking in the door to dinner ready and on table, and suddenly, forgetting about the awful day you just had.
• Being able to call each other rotten names in jest without being offended, but knowing to never ever call each other names in seriousness or when fighting.
• Being wrapped in a giant bear hug, and suddenly, anything you were upset about melts away.
• Not ordering mushrooms on my pizza because even though I love them, Man Friend can't stand the thought of them.
• Being each other's best friend, being able to tell each other anything and coming to each other when you need to talk.
• Making Man Friend a big breakfast, complete with heart-shaped bacon.
• When Man Friend pauses or mutes his video game to talk to me.
• Going on vacation together and not wanting to kill each other after spending every minute together for days.
• Not getting the STD tests during your physical because you don't even have to question if your partner has been faithful.
• When Man Friend helps my little sister with her biology homework.
• Encouraging each other and believing in each other more than you believe in yourself.
• When Man Friend gives me the bowl and spoon to lick the brownie batter instead of keeping it for himself. And then knowing me well enough to know that "Aww fuck." means that I just spilled batter all over my clothes and replying with "This is why we can't have nice things."
• Making each other Christmas gifts and putting a lot of thought and effort into the gift.
• When Man Friend fixed my fried computer, and assured me through my sobbing fits that everything was not lost.
• When I proofread Man Friend's assignment because "I broke a computer, so he fixed it. He broke a paragraph, so I fixed it."
• I live with and tolerate Man Friend's cat. That should get me extra points, actually.