Love in the Modern World

Love is on my brain. As it often is, given love's myriad applications in our lives. I love pizza and my kids and my cats and the smell of blooming lilacs and road trips. I have known romantic as well as platonic love. Physical as well as spiritual. As usual, the problem seems to be the English language. We toss about the word in equal application whether we're talking about our significant other or football. If your SO actually is football, my apologies. And sympathy. I listened to this TED Radio Hour yesterday concerning the subject of love. What hangs with me are the words of Esther Perel in the third segment of the program. That she doesn't have a prescription for success in a marriage. That we expect in our culture to have opposite-ends-of-the-spectrum needs satisfied by one person. Contradiction! A recipe, it seems, for failure. Her answer? Love is a paradox to be managed rather than a problem to be solved. As one who feels there often aren't easy answers or cures for our human dilemmas, I like this approach. Maybe it doesn't appeal to those who prefer to live in the world of sound-bites and trite aphorisms as solutions. All I know is, love is an adventure. And home. My brain has no problem reconciling the two.