Sunny Days

 

A young couple walked into Starbucks today. From the moment I saw them I could tell they were in love. From the way they held hands, the way they looked at one and other, and the way the girl smiled when he ordered his drink. It was really cute and heart-wrenching and I must have looked like a total dork as I swooned over them from behind my laptop.

It made me think. A few years back I believed that romantic love did not exist. I had this crazy notion that love was a made up emotion created to dramatize literature and other forms of art. It gave characters reasons to act spontaneously, or to show different characteristics. As theater progressed, so did various ideas of love. Looking at it then, I could only see love in the way that Hollywood has portrayed it. Even now, it's hard for me to examine the concept of love without integrating all the things I've seen on TV about it.

As I watched the couple in Starbucks, I could see the feelings they had for one and other, but wouldn't those be feelings of lust? Isn't love supposed to be something much deeper than physical interaction and jittery hearts?

No one has accurately described to me what it feels like to be in love. They've described heart-break pretty well, I definitely understand what it is to be heart-broken, but love is a whole other thing. Every time I ask someone they just go, "Well, it's kinda like, I think about him all the time..." or "You just know". I guess I "just know" what it is not to be in love.

I suppose I'm entirely ignorant to the subject because it's never hit me. But if Hollywood is right about love, it just doesn't seem probable that I'll ever find myself in it.

So, until I fall in love, can someone please tell me: What does it feel like to be in love? Is it some heaven sent emotion that lifts you off your feet, or is it real? Is it a distinct emotion that you can pinpoint at certain times throughout the day? Can anyone give me an answer without using Hollywood stereotypes?

I've thought for awhile now that love is real. I see couple's like the one in Starbucks all over the place. But until I get a legitimate answer, or until I fall in love, there's a part of me that still thinks it may just all be make believe.