True Love

This is my family:

But also this is my family:

(not creepy)

And you could even say that this is my family:

And I love all of them.

Even if sometimes some of them do things that annoy me, or if I don't want to deal with them all the time... 

Even if I haven't seen them for a long time, or if our relationship has changed over the years...

Even if I'm in a bad mood or have had a rough day...

...I'll continue loving them, because that's what love is. That's what it means to really truly love someone.

Sometimes I like them more or I like them less, but I always love them and I always will.

And I'm not talking about storybook fairytale love, necessarily. Not romantic love, even though that's part of it. I love Daniel romantically, but I love him other ways too. I love him like I love my family, and I love my sisters like I love my friends. I also love my late hamsters like I love my friends. And I love my friends like I love my sisters, and I love Daniel like I love my friends. All of these things are love, and all of them are true love. 

English is a weird language because the one word "love" means a lot of things. You can love your grandparents, and you can love avocados. You can love skiing, and you can love those shoes. You can love Robert Downey Jr. and you can love your husband. 

But all of those things aren't the same thing...

That being said, I love many things, and I love easily. It doesn't take much for me to love someone or something, and once I do I will love it with all I've got. 

Sometimes I fall in love with stupid stuff like a special pink paperclip I found under my desk at work, and sometimes I love conceptual things, like the idea of therapeutic puppies for college finals week.

Actually, I love any and all animals. Admittedly, I've met some narsty old cats that I want to punch, and I spent a long time being afraid of dogs that weighed more than ten pounds and/or could run faster than me, but over the years I've learned that overall, I like animals way more than most people.

Even animals that most people don't like. 

For example, I've always wanted a snake, ever since I was little. Snakes, I always tell people, have no arms and no legs, and therefore exist as nothing more than a giant hug. 

I think those scorpions that are like five inches long and glow under a black-light are the coolest things ever to creep the earth, and I would totally have one were I married to someone less anthropod-ist.

I even think rats are awesome, with their little hands and tiny fingers. They're very smart, too. Just ask Disney/Pixar.

I even befriended the mouse that lives on the call floor at work. I named him Philippe and everyone keeps trying to kill him even though we're best friends.

Our apartment technically allows pets, although the pet rent for anything that doesn't live in a cage or tank is outrageous. All my cage-dwelling friends, as I'm sure you well know, met with untimely ends at this apartment, so I'm really nervous about ever buying a new hamster and bringing it to this accursed death-hole. 

I wanted to get a kitty or six, but my husband would never allow it and also we would have to give up eating. 

So I have developed an innovative solution...

Every weekend, the local pet store host kitten adoptions for an animal rescue society in the area. Basically, you can just come in and borrow a couple of kitties for an hour or so and then give them back. 

You don't have to feed them or clean up after them or be responsible for them, and when they start shredding your flesh with their tiny razor claws, you can just give them back! 

Basically, you get a small dose of pet-love for free, and sometimes that's all it takes to keep you going after a long, hard week. 

And, you know, husband-and-family-and-friend-love is cool too.

But it's just a different kind of love.