I believe we all have notions of what love is.
When I was a little girl, I always dreamed of some man from the North swooping in on his white horse and taking me away.
I read a lot as a child.
When I ran out of things to read, I use to steal my grandmothers harlequin romance books to read, and this aided greatly in misconstruing what love is, especially to a teenage girl who should not have been reading those kinds of books.
According to these books love was experiencing your heart beat one hundred miles an hour.
Of course, all the men who the women fell in love with in these books were striking and contained sinewy bodies.
The men were rich and had fantastic jobs.
I have learned in life that we women do place a lot of pressure on men and due to these ridiculously high expectations; men have a lot to live up to.
The majority of females have had fantasies of being swept off their feet.
Most females wised up to that fantasy, as did I.
I've always had this mentality of what love is.
I've been married before, and that marriage ended up in divorce after several years.
I may have had a misconstrued understanding of what devotion and love was during this stage of my life; however it was common sense, even to I that love and romance consisted of more than merely bringing home a Pepsi for your wife.
I still laugh about that one.
I have discovered during my late thirties what love is.
Love is not always making your heart beat one hundred miles an hour.
Love is that consistent beat of your heart for the one you love.
Love is feeling tired and exhausted, the one you love tells you to sit down, and they will do the dishes.
Love is having children who do not belong to your significant other, but he loves them anyways.
Love is feeling angry, and because you love them so much, you cannot bring yourself to yell at them.
You do not want to hurt them.
Love is always placing their feelings above your own.
Love is surrender while realizing your significant other is human.
You love them in spite of their imperfections.
Love is viewing your significant other across the room while knowing in your heart that your heart would break without them in your life.
I have such a strong man in my life.
It has taken me quite a while to find a partner such as this man.
I have intimidated most men within my life.
I have thrived in a quote "man's world" for most of my life and some men can find this fact intimidating.
My significant other has always accepted me for who I am, and I have never had to prove myself to him.
He has accepted me as the strong woman I am as I respect him for the strong man he is.
Love is listening to your heart.
Love is not always obvious.
Love is viewing someone who is quite different from outward appearances yet the identification of two souls which are the same; enable a firm, durable bond, no matter the obvious physical differences or political affiliations.
Love just simply is.