I want to know what love is....

I want you to show me!!! (doo do do laa!!!) Okay, that's mostly a joke. However, that stupid little four letter word that follows us around from an early childhood seems so obscure to me. So, here is a technical response. I'll try to swallow my overly emotive ramblings...

Recently I read an article in Psychology Today, (shout-out! I'm a nerd, get over it.) that spoke a little about this obscure chemical reaction that we seem to live our lives around, for example what we should and should not expect from our so-called significant others; we should not expect our significant others (this one is for the women out there), to do big gestures towards us to gauge their affection towards us, apparently small thoughtful gestures should be held in higher regard as apparently those small gestures mean big things to our penis-laden counterparts. Also, expecting those counterparts to make decisions about the future is asking too much. One of the most interesting articles in this particular magazine, was one titled "The American Nightmare", which illustrated how our expectations in love are unrealistic and leave us ultimately disappointed and miserable overall.

This is something I can't agree with more. (I blame modern socialization...) We live in a society that breeds "me". This contorted social view of "what do I want?" "What will make me happier?" This is a crap ideology. Think back 50-60 years. Life expectancy was about 60...there was no waiting until you're 40 to start having kids, IVF and other infertility solutions did not exist. There was no "I want to be comfortable in my job before I get married" or "I'm going to experiment and change careers as often as I need to to find the perfect job" et cetera, et cetera. Way back in the way back, you got married young, because that's what people did, you got a job and worked your ass off to pay your bills and support your family. There was no idea of "me". 

But what does this have to do with love? What does anything have to do with love?? First and foremost; love is a word. Nothing more. That overwhelming swoon, knot in your stomach, weak knees, out of breath feeling, is a...and please brace yourself, a chemical reaction. That's it. Soul mates are this stupid little social ideation that came to be out of necessity WAY BACK IN THE FUCKING DAY!!!  It was an anthropological advantage. Now? Love is this bullshit idea. Yes, we all fall, we all have had that little rush, but the ideas behind it, are antiquated. Find someone you don't hate, that's generally decent (even good to you) and that you have that ridiculous chemical reaction to (but know, that those chemicals are affected by many things in life, including birth control, color, time, scent...and this is a "fake-it" nation!). Marry that person, work damn hard to make the marriage work. It is not a hobby that you get to quit, it's just another job. Breed carefully and die in the end. 

And they all lived happily ever after, after marriage counseling and Prozac.