What Does Real Love Feel Like?

Sweettart--

Glad to see you a bit playful. "Playful" is a symptom of healing--even of growing.

You have been very helpful in contributing to my better feelings, Noddy24. I think I would like you a lot in real life.

sweettart--

One of these days when I'm a Merry Widow I'm going to get on a Grayhound bus and travel across the country meeting A2K people face to face.

Granted, this trip may be years away--or never--but keep in mind I show up demanding a bathtub and sight-seeing guide.

Meanwhile, hold your dominion.

Me casa su casa, Noddy.

Heatwave--

I'll put you on my Coopted Hostess List.--no matter where you're living.

You know that feeling you get when you hug a clown even though you know it's silly for someone over the age of 12 to hug a clown, but you don't care cause the clown made you laugh and you'd always wanted to hug a clown? Well, um, ah, what were we talking about again? Oh yeah, that's what love feels like.

Real love is that warm feeling in your stomach....of the roofies hitting your bloodstream.

The guest room (bathroom comes complete with tub) is ready, and I'm a damn fine sightseeing guide if I do say so myself. Put me on the list, Noddy!

Eva--

You are now on the southern sector of my list. Even if this trip never goes beyond blissful fantasy, people like you are providing a wonderful journey.

I've been thinking about this thread. I wish there were a bunch of different names for love, like the proverbial Eskimos and snow. The Greeks have eros and agape, that gets there but I think there have to be at least 10 definitions:

Infatuation-love: The earliest phase, described in the dream, when the beloved is positively intoxicating.

Discovery-love: The point where you're getting to know someone and worried about a deal-breaker and what you're learning keeps getting better and better and you start to realize this could be serious.

Comfort-love: The realization that you can relax and be comfortable with this person.

That's roughly chronological, now more random:

Nurture-love: Can be about having kids, can be about pets, can be about something else entirely, but that phase when watching your beloved love something you love makes you love the beloved more (say that 10 times fast).

Hand-holding-love: I've often cited the study about endorphins that are released when long-time-couples hold hands.

Knowledge-love: The idea that nobody on earth knows you as well as your beloved, and vice versa.

OK, that's 6, there have to be at least 4 more but I'm running out of steam. Anyway... the point is that there are many, many kinds of love, and I think what you describe is fabulous but ultimately somewhat superficial, and that deeper kinds of love lay beyond that.

Why wait until then? I'm starting now And you can always come and bunk in with me... in fact, doing a road trip would be fun

I have a vision of Noddy following Penny's voyages around the world.




(will Noddy fit into Walter's camera case? :wink: )

sweettart--

Sorry to drag your thread off topic.

Briefly:

Mame--

That's the best offer I've had all day. Unfortunately at the moment I have some domestic responsibilities. Will you post your adventures on A2K so I can live vicariously?

EhBeth--

I intend to steer clear of protective photographers with little moustaches--I will also ration exposure to Canadian belly dancers with brand new pedometers.

Of course, you just might be driving the bus. EhBeth's Mobile Tour of A2K North America.

Soz--

Excellent point on the varieties of love.

to me, real love is being held close by my husband. he is the kite of my day and the moon of my night. he is my everything.

there's a difference?

i've always looked for mystical union, i think it makes the love you do find much more special.

actually, when i was a strong atheist and was sure there was NO god, i still believed there was a love that transcended everything- but i thought any two people could find it if they were both looking.

love changes your life. lust leaves you back where you started. the combination is highly recommended, in my opinion.

Love is rain on the window of your sticky booth at a pancake house.

Love can come in many forms, one being from the not so subtle stench of whiskey on Uncle Jack's breath waking you up in the morning while he gently strokes your cheek while yelling at you to take out the trash.

Ah, yes, good old Uncle Jack. Probing my gunshot scars with the tip of his tongue.

To me love is a combination of some of the things that have been mentioned here already.

There's the attraction part of it, but it's an attraction that doesn't go away even when things aren't "cute" or "romantic." You can have a disagreement with the other person, and yet, you still can't help feeling that desire for them. Or, as someone else noted, even if they're sick and feeling miserable. You just want to help them feel better. Instead of stepping back, you actually want to step closer to them!

But I also like to feel comfortable with them. I love it when the person you love is also your closest friend. You feel as if you could tell them anything.

You can share your fears with them. And you can share laughter because you get each other's jokes. You can look across a room at them and share an ironic look and you both know what the other one is thinking.

Sometimes they'll say something out of the blue and it startles you because you were just thinking the same thing -- and it's like they were reading your mind. And it's a relief to know that someone feels the very same way you do, and you didn't have to say a thing.

They understand you, they know your virtues and your faults....and they still care for you! And how good that makes you feel.

I have no idea. What's real and what's projection?

That's a recurring question for me.