Dave Callahan's browser was set to scroll through various news stories of the day. He was idly looking at them when one caught his eye. "Is There Such A Thing As True Love?" The story was based on an article a psychologist had written looking into the nature of true love. He was intrigued and he read it. Turns out there wasn't much astounding there. The psychologist had done a twenty year study and written an article detailing his findings. It all came down to what, in Dave's mind, was your basic psycho-babble about the nature of love and how everyone was different so every relationship was different and some relationships had stronger feelings of love than others and on and on until Dave had just had enough. The author never even answered the question about whether or not there was such a thing as true love. But what Dave found to be really interesting was the 'comments' section at the end of the article. There were over a thousand of them. A nerve had definitely been touched and reading some of them was very interesting. The jest of it was that the vast majority of the people writing in were of the opinion that yes, in fact, they believed in true love. By at least twenty to one. Easily. "Crazy," Dave thought to himself. "Lots of romantic people out there." Many of the comments were from women, but there were a surprising number from men, too. He found that he couldn't stop reading them. "I found my true love after divorcing my husband of fifteen years after years of neglect" one women wrote. A guy said, "I married my high school sweet heart but it didn't work out. We just drifted apart. After we divorced I met my true love." Another female wrote, "We met in college and hit it off right away. We've been together ever since. It really is true love." There were positive comments by straight couples, gay couples and lesbian couples. In a way it was kind of cool, Dave thought, that there were so many happy couples out there.
As the days went by, Dave found he
really couldn't stop thinking about the article and the concept of having one
true love. He knew a lot of happy couples, and, if he had to guess, all of them
would subscribe to the belief that their relationship was one based on true
love. They did seem happy together and Dave had no reason to doubt them. But
there were also many people he knew who had been divorced. How did the idea of
true love fit into their view of relationships? He remembered a conversation
he'd had with his mother shortly before she passed away. His parents had
divorced when he was fifteen. His father had left his mother for another woman,
whom he subsequently married. They were together for five years before his
father died. Some years after his death, Dave's mother remarried and she spent
the rest of her life very happy with her new husband. But when Dave asked his
mother if she ever had a 'true love' kind of relationship she answered without
hesitating. "Why yes, your father." "How could that be?"
Dave asked. "He left you for someone else." But she was adamant in
her belief and would not budge. In the end Dave wasn't sure if he was happy for
her or sad for her. Happy that she had experienced true love or sad because her
'true love' had left her for someone else.
The article also caused Dave to look
more deeply into his own past situation with regard to relationships. From an
early age he had always wanted to marry and have a family. He had been married
twice. Once when he was in his early twenty's to a woman whom he'd had two children.
They had grown apart, divorced and a few years later he married a woman whom
he'd been together with for over twenty years, before they, too, had grown
apart and divorced. He was a good father, but marriage hadn't worked for him.
Had true love been a factor in each of his marriages? Not really, if he was
honest with himself. He'd felt a great deal of affection toward each of them in
the beginning. But that changed over time, as other insurmountable life factors
got in the way. Some of his conversations with friends over his lifetime had
hinted that maybe he'd married and had a family to prove to himself that he
could do better than his father had done with his mother. There was probably
some truth to that, except that deep down he really did want to be a father and
husband. The father part had been wonderful. The husband part, not so much.
A couple that he knew were both on
their second marriages. They'd been together for over twenty years. He was
convinced that they would say that their marriage was based on true love. Why
was that? Because they both were devoted to each other, supported each other
and enjoyed each other's company, as well as giving each other space and time
to grow.
Maybe that's what it came down to
when it came to true love. More than the depth of feeling one had for the other
person, it was also the ablility to accept that person for who that person was
and to be part of the growth in that person's life. While thinking about all of
this, Dave thought of the movie, 'Princess Bride' which was one of his
favorites. The concept of 'true love' was the basis of the movie with the two
main characters meeting, falling in love, becoming separated and finally
reunited again, all the while bolstered by the fact that true love would
eventually bring them back together. Their love was visceral and very
passionate and Dave found himself wondering how strong that would have been
after being married for twenty or thirty years. He hoped it would have
survived.
A friend of Dave's often talked
about her idea that relationships weren't designed to last longer than twenty
years. People maybe had three good relationships in them in their lifetimes.
One, early on in a person's twenty's before kids are born. Then, a second,
middle period, where two people have children and raise a family together. And,
finally, a third relationship toward the end of one's life when the child
rearing and intense job years are over. "Successful marriages, maybe
combine all three relationship elements," she said,
"What about true love?" he
asked her.
"What about it?"
"How does that fit in?"
She was divorced after nearly thirty
years of a less than fulfilling marriage. She laughed. "I don't believe in
true love. I'll leave that to you romantics."
Is true love, then, only for
romantics? Dave asked some of his male friends and most of them were very uncomfortable
with the question, looking at him in a weird way with a kind of "What's
wrong with you?" look on their face. Only one said that he believed in
true love. Others had never really thought about it, and, when pushed, didn't
really have an answer. But some of the comments on the article from guys said
that they'd believed in true love, so that said something. Dave was really not
sure why he was obsessing over the question. It all came down to the fact that
even though he hadn't experienced true love, he still felt that maybe it was
out there. That maybe it did exist. It did for others. Why not for him?
Dave was in a long term relationship
that had been going on for over ten years. It was the kind of relationship
where they had met and been friends before falling in love and committing to
each other. Friends told him that she was the kind of person he should have
been with all along. He didn't disagree. He felt a depth of love and affection
for her that he never had felt before. He was one hundred percent committed to
the relationship. They were mature adults and each had their own interests, but
they loved sharing their life with each other. It was the happiest he'd ever
been in his life and she told him that being with him made her happier than
she'd ever been. He could easily see them being together for the rest of their
lives. She wanted it too. Neither of them had a desire or need to be married.
When Dave asked her whether or not
she believed true love, she told him that she didn't. "Look, I'm just happy
we're together," she said. "What more do you want?"
"As long as you're happy, I'm
happy. I guess I'll just have to be the romantic one in the relationship,"
he laughed.
She smiled, getting what he was
saying. "So it sounds like you believe in true love."
"You, know, I believe I do, the
more I think about it." Dave was trying to be honest. He told her about
the article and the impact it had on him. Maybe true love really was different
for everyone. Maybe the point wasn't about true love forever and ever, but was the
idea of committing to the relationship through the good times and bad. To be with
the person no matter what just for the simple joy of being together and having
the fulfillment of a loving and caring relationship. Which was how he felt with
her.
"Does it bother you that I
don't?" She asked.
"No." He liked that they
were talking about it. "Just don't hold it against me," he added
kiddingly.
She laughed. "Don't worry. It
doesn't matter to me that we see things differently. How about you?"
"No. I appreciate that we are
different and have our own views. I'm just happy being with you. I like our
life together." He paused and then added, "I'm just glad we found
each other."
She looked at him for a long few
moments and then reached over and squeezed his hand. "Me too," she
said, her voice honest and true.
At that moment Dave realized that
whether what they had was true love or not, he didn't really care. The
important thing was that they were together and committed to each other. And that
was good enough for him. As to the question about whether or not true love
really existed, well, he'd leave that for the psychologists and the movie goers
to figure out. He had all he needed to know right there beside him with her.
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