Unconditional Love

Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose Worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom:
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

–William Shakespeare

Remember those days when you fall head over heels with someone in your teens and adults around tell you knowingly, that's only puppy love or a crush. It's transitional, it is a phase we will all pass.

What is love? Can we all put a age to it to decide when love is love and it's not puppy or infatuation? Will we know love when we come face to face with it? Will we ever know?

I got to know a friend lately. She met her husband when she was only 13. At that age she already knew he's the one for her. I can see in her eyes her love for him, how they shine whenever she talks about those days. How her face exudes that glow when she recalls the times they had together and only to realise so many years have passed. She is now 60.

One would think a marriage that lasts that long, that survives the long distances and months of absence would be strong to overcome all odds. It is now at the brink of being over. The trigger? Months of bottled up anger on both sides, lots of he said, she said and eventually someone said something hurtful. It is painful enough for her to decide it's better for her to live somewhere else with her 4 cats than to give him another chance. Her heart is set.

I am reminded of how all love needs nurturing. Every love needs a kind word, a loving gaze and a gentle cuddle every now and then. It doesn't matter if you are in your teens, or adulthood, the demands of love is the same. So I guess the real question is "Does unconditional love exist"?