Dialogue

As February is the month in which we celebrate love (and black people), I thought I would throw in my two cents on Love, Relationships, and the Implications Thereof. I do not make a habit of blogging my personal life. I don't think anyone would really be interested and, well, some (most) of it is quite humiliating. I don't want this post to turn into something like that, but the fact of the matter is that one' s thoughts on love are necessarily born of one's own experiences. Also, I recognize that Valentine's Day is long gone, but the last week has brought this topic front and center so I consider the post timely (and I get to be self-centered on my blog). This post will take the form of the age-old rhetorical device of the Colloquy. This conversation takes place between myself and Love. Ahem.


Amy: Hello, Love. How's it going?

Love: Oh, fine. You know how it is.

Amy: Sure, sure. You got a minute? I was wanting to maybe ask you some stuff.

Love: If I had a nickel for every time I heard that...

Amy: Lots of questions lately?

Love: Well, the advent of Internet Dating has raised a lot of issues. Not that I have much to do with Dating, as a rule. Not really my scene.

Amy: Really? I thought that the whole point of dating was to, well, fall in love.

Love: And by implication this means I am not around while the dating is going on. You can't really fall in love until you stop dating.

Amy: Huh. This seems quite contrary to everything I ever learned from Meg Ryan.

Love: No way, I think they got quite close in When Harry Met Sally...

Amy: Good point, good point.

Love: Thanks.

Amy: But would you distinguish between dating on the one hand and relationships on the other?

Love: Well, I should say something here. Kind of a caveat. Kind of. Well, see, there are all kinds of different types of love, you know? There's the lusty kind that behaves rather like lighter fluid on a pile of logs. There's the soul-mate kind that always, for whatever reason, reminded me of the way certain kinds of igneous rock suffuses softer rocks and then solidifies so that you get this two-part mass that's inseparable save by...nevermind. I'm babbling. The point is that when you say "relationship" it can mean eight thousand different things, if you would permit some hyperbole.

Amy: Well, I guess what I'm getting at, and I only vaguely know myself, is, well, do we do it right? I mean, is going through a bunch of relationships really the way to find what it is we are taught to look for...lifetime committment, I guess? 'Cause some places have success with the arranged marriages, for example. Some folks write the whole thing off altogether. Who's got it right? Where do love and relationships fit in our lives? [breaks into a cold sweat]

Love: Geez, dude. Here, have some water. You need to relax. Clearly there's no answer for this. It depends on the person, it depends on the friggin' century, if you take my meaning. What I can tell you is this: you are viewing love as a destination when maybe that's not quite right.

Amy: I don't think I understand.

Love: Well, it's sort of semantics. Sort of that old cliche about how it's not the destination that matters but how you get there. I mean, look at the soul-maters for example. They find each other and they are, as it is said, in love. They didn't hit it and stop. It's more like a road or a, I don't know, canal?

Amy: Love is a canal?

Love: Nevermind. I'm just saying, you are killing yourself trying to get to the other side of something that can't be crossed. Maybe you should just drift. Loving is not like getting a Law Degree.

Amy: Gah! Don't go there.

Love: Sorry. But you get my meaning?

Amy: Yeah, I think so. Love is what happens while you are looking for perfect, or whatever.

Love: Sort of, yeah. Look, I gotta run...

Amy: Wait! I have one last question. Why, when I do a Google search for love images, do I get Kylie Monogue?

Love: She's my ambassador on Earth.

Amy: Ah.

And there you have it, Constant Readers. He's a squirrely little guy, Love. And I don't really know if I am more informed now as I was before. Any additions to the information posted here would be greatly appreciated.

(Brief Aside: I had all kinds of fancy things going on on this post but the format kept screwing up. So you'll just have to read my thoughts, Unadorned.)