“Errm… I don’t know that there is? Wait- I mean- okay that sounds really bad but it’s not what I mean at all.”“Right- I mean- normally people would say intimacy would be the line, but I’ve had people I’ve been romantically involved with that I’ve shared very little intimacy with, and people who are my best friends who have literally seen bits of me that no one else has.”“…- no, wait- not like that! I mean like that, I suppose but- no! I mean- ugh.”“Like parts of my heart, I mean, not - anyroad. Loving somebody and how you do it and what label and category you slap onto it is kind of dependant on the people involved and the context of it, right. Family you don’t get to pick, but when you adopt people under your wing and they become like family- do you shift from platonic to familial? Or was it familial all along? When your best friend becomes your partner, do you stop loving them as a friend or do you just add that layer of warm and fuzzies from the stability of being their mate and partner in crime? I don’t know that there’s a right answer, and that’s as frustrating as all hells because it’s not exact or neat and orderly- but nor is nature, and appropriately enough, nor is love.”“But I guess, to answer it properly- Lust is rolling over in the morning and seeing your intended and wanting to go another round or two before breakfast. Love is doing the same and offering to make her a cup of tea. It’s homely, it’s caring, it’s selfless. It’s about comfort and stability. Romantic love is feeling your heart race at the very thought of getting to that point with a person and all the fun courting that goes into reaching that point- but platonic love is already being there, kettle whistling and all, because you know you’ll never have that volatile stage of courting where things can still go spectacularly awry. Where they make you so happy that you laugh yourself dizzy- and they’re the first one to catch you when you stumble for the trouble. And familial love is like that too, but it’s more about nurturing and working together than it is about intimacy on a one to one sort of level- but blood requires a lot less affirmation, I suppose, and there’s no conditions to it. The folks that look after you and raise you, provided they’re decent people and good at it- you’ll never feel like you owe them anything or that you’ve got to be anyone but yourself for them. And likewise, when you go off and bring a new person into the world, or take them under your wing once they’re in it already, that sort of love for them and will to see them grow well, that’s unconditional too.”“Short answer is- I’m the worst person to ask, apparently.”
