I have heard it said that love is both a terrible and wonderful thing. But I disagree. Even if it is unrequited, love is wonderful. If you love, right now, at this moment, cherish it.

You can never have the same love twice. It grows, matures, and sometimes even wilts. But it will always manifest itself again. However, like a finger print, or a snowflake, each one is different.

You may love more. You may love less. Undoubtedly, you will understand more. But even while it changes, at the core, love, all love, shares the same principle. caring for another, more than yourself.

Being happy when they are. Sad when they are. Angry when someone hurts them. The desire to protect them, to make them smile... If only for a moment.

Being ecstatic if they choose you. Finding a way to be happy for them if they find someone else. Never wanting to cause them harm.

Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not regret, it does not fear. It is not jealous, it is not petty. In love, there is peace.*

If you want someone for you, at the expense of their own happiness, that is not love. That is obsession. If you start thinking that they belong to you, that is not love either, but possession.

In love, all things are equal. Do not chain your heart away because of something not returned. Revel in their happiness, then find it again for you.

Embrace the purity of love, REAL love, not the one that gets tossed arond so much in this day and age.

Find it. Cherish it. So many people are blind to real love. Don't be one of them. No one ever loses their chance at love. They just give up, stop trying, and lose their way.

(*This is probably paraphrasing something in the bible. I don't know.)