“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” — Maya Angelou
I don’t know about all of that leaping and hurdling, but love is certainly an active condition. There’s really nothing about romance that’s static. Hearts beat, lovers cuddle, cupid strikes. Even gazing into someone’s eyes requires a certain amount of eyelash batting.
When you think about it, the emotions themselves are ever moving. There is an ebb and flow to love. At times it is as gentle as the soft ripple of a lake on a still morning, at others it hits with all the force of a tsunami.
We all remember the intensity of love’s first blush. Just hearing your beloved’s voice could set your stomach aflutter. A glimpse across a crowded room took your breath away. A gentle touch and your heart skipped a beat. It’s a state of being that can stay with you. Not, perhaps with the same heat as in the beginning, but with the warmth and glow of a candle flame.
Having been married for several decades I’m quite familiar with how love changes throughout the course of a couple’s life together. Less head in the clouds and more feet on the ground, I suppose you might say. There are phases and patterns that interchange, the weaving of passion and ardour through strands of turbulence and teamwork, strength and stability. Life has a way of changing what is normal, and over time as a result of circumstances, we come to expect these alterations in our relationships.
The early days of infatuation and rose-coloured glasses soon take on a more pragmatic vibe as realities of co-existing with another person, of building a partnership with them begin to take hold. Introduce a few children into this collaboration, and romance not only often gets put on the back burner but a diligent effort has to be made, amidst the practical busyness of being a family, to infuse a little spice back into it.
Quite simply, falling back on a familiar cliché, if you’re together long enough, it’s not always going to be clear sailing. Any partners that say otherwise are either fibbing intentionally or they really have low expectations.
Given that our personal existence is full of highs and lows, it’s bound to to be the same when you try to share a household and life with another. You might love each other, but as I’ve just tried to illustrate, the form of that love will be ever changing. Even day to day. A cold shoulder on Monday, warm lips on Tuesday.
The important thing to remember is that while there are many conditions that can affect a relationship, it really seems that we should never allow anything to surpass in priority, the love and romance that began it all.
So as I find myself pondering love and romance in the time leading up to Valentine’s Day, as I consider all of the actions that define and describe it, it seemed most appropriate to highlight animated images. Here’s a great collection from Animation Factory:
