What is love? Well, for starters, it's a question I haven't be able to answer recently...or for my whole life, for that matter. I may be writing this because I'm having a mild crisis concerning my non-existent love life, which everyone on Twitter who follows me is completely aware of, but I just want to know what it is. So, what is love?
While a majority of my friends are in love or at least have been, I haven't, which has kept me up for many nights wondering what's wrong with me. I grew up loving romance movies and that picturesque idea of love presented in those types of movies. Are romantic movies twisted and fake in their form? Yes, but I didn't want to believe that as a 9 year old striving to be the hopeless romantic lead in my real life love story just waiting to come true.
I love my parents, friends, family and two fluffy cats at home, but that's a different type of love. When I think of love, it's love like Noah and Ally in "The Notebook" and wanting to be around one person for the rest of your life. A friend told me a couple of weeks ago that, whenever her fiancé is home, she feels like herself around him. That's the love I want, but the pessimist within doesn't think it'll ever happen.
In the short of life I've lived, I haven't experienced anything even close to "love." At this point in my life, I wonder if I should be worried. Will I ever find my "Noah," or the real life version of him? In all honesty, attempting to find a person that will fulfill all the expectations of fictional characters is unrealistic, but, hey, a girl can dream.
At 20 years old, when I think of "love," my thoughts go to someone who will laugh at the horrible jokes I make to relieve tension, someone who tells me to stop thinking of every bad outcome that could possibly happen in any given situation. We live in a generation where love is perceived as bringing someone breakfast in bed and planning elaborate dates for your significant other. While that seems lovely online, it's not exactly my perception of what love is.
In a couple of months or years, I'll probably be wondering why I wrote this article, because everyone in my life who reads this will think I'm not doing okay. To all the family members who end up reading this, I'm okay, you don't need to find me a nice Ethiopian man. To all my friends who read this, you hear me ranting about my depleting love life almost every day, so this is nothing new.
I'll be venturing out on my journey of "what is love?" in the coming months. Is love biting into a Snickers bar or finding a man who likes me? In this wonderful year of 20, we will discover the unanswered question of my life. Find out and see, in the journey of Aby's non-existent love life. Wish me luck friends and family, because I may need it.