Love? What’s that?

I remember the first time I really liked a boy, and asking myself if this was what love was supposed to feel like. Now, having experienced it, I can say without a doubt that it was not, in fact, love. When you love a friend or a family member, it should mean that you wouldn't change them and that you'd put their happiness over your own.

Love in a relationship is different. When you're in love with someone, it should be all-consuming and overwhelming. True love cannot be measured. You can't decide if you love someone by a checklist you find online or by a friend telling you that you love them. Love shouldn't be cheap, and you should save that word to preserve its meaning. Truly loving someone means looking at them and seeing them all: good, bad, and ugly. It means knowing their faults, and accepting them and loving them because without those faults, your love just wouldn't be the same and you wouldn't' want to change them in the slightest. Truly loving someone means being able to be open and honest with them. Truly loving someone means wanting to share everything with that person, from the huge events in your life to the little things about your day. Truly loving should never be a choice or a decision. If it's love, you'll know without a shadow of a doubt, whether you've loved anyone before or not.

True love is where you can't keep a smile off of your face when you think about them. True love is wanting to spend every minute of every day together (but not actually doing that.) When you're in love with someone, you get this warm and fuzzy feeling in your tummy. You'll feel like someone flipped a switch and now there's a lightbulb inside of you that's shining as bright as a sun through your every pore. You'll miss them when they're gone, and if it ends between you two, it will crush you.

The reality of love is that there's true love, but there's other kinds of love too. There's puppy love, and dark and twisted love, and friendly love, and familial love. There's love for God, for your country, and for inanimate objects. With true love, you'll never see it coming, but you'll know before you ever expect to be in love with them.