“We met and we were as one and it was you and I, and I and you, and swoon and *gush* and *gush*”

Please. Pass me a bucket.

Something about this time of year brings out the cliche’s in people and some of them are just so far outside reality that they make me shake my head in horror. I mean really, if this is what some people are expecting when they fall in love, or find someone they love and want to be with it’s no wonder the divorce rate is ridiculous.

The truth is, that falling in love isn’t what Hollywood tells us it is, that’s called lust and no relationship should ever be built on lust alone.

If I had to write my own little verse about love, it would probably read something like:

“Love is finding someone you know you love, but know really nothing about. You convince yourself that you know each other, and make your life together.  Somewhere after that, you start actively noticing things that really piss you off about your partner but you choose to not let them matter, to not let them be a big thing.

Similarly, your partner suddenly realises that you have god-awful morning breath, your feet sweat at night and you have a horrible habit of not putting things away when you are finished with them. He has awful bathroom habits that stink out the entire neighborhood and has a crazy notion that the most boring TV programs are just what you need to hear about after a long day at work. He drinks beer, and hates wine. You drink wine, and hate beer. You’re into savory  he likes sweets. But all of those differences aren’t big things, and because you love each other you choose to actively love, and overcome. You choose to not let the differences push you apart and you make concessions for each other, because you care enough to. He lets you use the bathroom before he blows it up each morning, you try and remember to at least put his personal possessions back in the same room as he left them. He buys chips and dip for you, while doing a chocolate run for himself. You keep gum on the bedside table so your morning breath doesn’t kill your beloved.

In short, it’s not about gravity shifting, the world rotating off it’s axes, or lightening striking just the two of you. It’s about accepting you are both flawed, sometimes you both suck and sometimes you’ll piss each other off, or do dumb things. Ultimately, it’s about choices, and hard work.”

{I can’t imagine why Hallmark aren’t replying to my tweets about my awesome new range of gift cards for the newly engaged and newly-weded…..}