Just A Quick Question..

What do you think it means to love somebody?
I mean, not just love somebody in the way that I love my mum, or my best friends or kind strangers, or people who make brilliant coffees. 
I mean, what do you think it means to be in love with somebody?

Does it mean seeing them as flawless? Or seeing their flaws and disregarding them, accepting them anyway, and chosing to be with that person flaws or no flaws?
Does it mean knowing everything about them, like their favourite food, and their favourite colours, and their dogs name and where they went to school?
Does it mean you must like their family too? Their brothers and sisters, their mum and dad- maybe their grandparents, cousins, aunties as well? And must their family like you back?
Does it mean liking the way they dress, the way they do their hair, the shoes they like to wear? Does it mean you fall for their dorky pyjamas or their funny socks too?
Does love sometimes just mean lust? Is it wanting the physical- the touch and the feel of them on you, to satisfy desires?
Does it mean you always get along? That you go together like two peas in a pod, and you're as happy as Larry when you're both together? Does it mean you never fight, or argue, or debate?
Does it mean you always want to look your best when you're with them- wearing your nicest clothes, always done up, hair in place, powdered and scented? Or does it mean that together you're as comfortable as old boots- baggy hand-me-down's and messy hair, with not a trace of make-up on your face, and you couldn't care a cent, nor could he?
Does it mean being compatible? You have matching life goals, complimenting star signs, lifestyles that work well together? You're the planner, the organiser- and they're the do-er, the 'action' kind of person. How's that for compatible? Maybe you're both passionate about the environment, about polictics, the economy, travel?
Does love mean you can picture yourself with that person, five, ten, twenty years down the track? Travelling, a house, a wedding, having children together? Growing old and wrinkly and slowly disintegrating together?

Does love mean all of these things, or none at all? Heck, I'm only seventeen and I may as well have been born yesterday. All I know of life and the world is what textbooks, teachers and the Internet have to tell me. But maybe I know a little.

Maybe being in love is a little bit of all of those things. But maybe being in love is being with that one person whose voice can calm you in the wildest of rages, or rescue you from the darkest corners of sadness and tears. Whose touch makes you feel like everything in the world will be okay, at least for that moment, because you have them and that's all that is necessary. Who takes you away from the world and reality when they wrap you up in their arms, and you have truly never felt so safe, so content, so adored.
Maybe it's that person who you makes you feel so comfortable- like you could have just fallen out of a tree and landed in dog poo and they would still think you're the bees knees. Like you never need to fake anything, never need to doll yourself up in make-up or fancy clothes, for them to love you back. Together you could sit on your couch eating Chinese food from a plastic take-away container, in your tracksuit pants and department store shirt, and it would still be a wonderful night. 
Maybe it's that person who never judges you. Who hears your secrets and dreams and aspirations and fears, who will never tell a soul and never discourage you. That person who will listen and give advice and say they'll be there for you every step of the way. Your biggest supporter. 
Maybe it's that person who has woven their way into your life and into your heart, to the point where you cannot imagine your world without them. They are so much a part of you, how would things be without them? You can even imagine, naively and foolishly, a future with them. Loving them shamelessly, mercilessly, unendingly, through thick or thin, as long as you both shall live. And even after that. 
Maybe it's that person you never tire of, that person you always wish to see, who you constantly miss- even minutes after they leave you. Is that even normal?
Maybe it's that person who- even in the worst of times- you can still love. Even when they've hurt you, reduced you to tears, made you so angry you really just wanted to punch them in the face and tell them you never want to see them again- you know you still love them. That person you can fight with, argue with, get angry at- you give them the silent treatment and they tell you you're being ridiculous. You go back and forth and realise you're not getting anywhere because you're both stubborn. And despite all the fights, you know you would fight for each other- fight for what you have together- with all you've got. You couldn't let this person go. 
Maybe it's that person who surprises you every day- you learn or notice something new, something that enthralls you and reminds you, once again, of the beautiful human being you've been blessed with. You notice a new habit or quirk, you take note of their scent, their feel, the looks they give you. There is nothing more exciting than exploring the depths of another human being. And that's what you get to do every time you're with them, until one day you know their every element, and you are familiar with their soul.
And you love them for it. 

Maybe that's sort of what being in love is.

Well maybe, just maybe..