Some say love...

The qualities and characteristics of love that I seek to experience in dating/committed relationships are appreciation, closeness, care and a friendship. The song “All of Me” by John Legend explains the type of appreciation and sense of togetherness that I would want in a relationship. “Love all your curves and edges, all your perfect imperfections, give your all to me and I’ll give my all to you” is a quote from “All of Me” and this sense of love is what I hope for in a relationship. Although the message in this song of complete love no matter what may be only an ideal, I seek to experience some type of the relationship in this songs message. Ed Sheeran’s song, “Give me love” talks about a friendship in love and just being able to have fun with the person you love. In a dating/committed relationship, being able to just have fun and do more than just romantic things is an ideal for me. “In the darkest night I’ll search through the crowd, your face is all that I see. I’ll give you everything.” This is a quote from Beyoncé’s song “XO,” which explains how even in difficult times, all she can see is Jay-Z’s love. Even when there are hard times in a committed relationship, I hope that we would be able to get through it. “Unconditionally” by Katy Perry is a song talking about closeness and friendship in a relationship. She says how she will love her boyfriend unconditionally through anything because she loves him. My expectations of a relationship are illustrated in this song, and in Emeli Sande’s song “Next to Me.” Sande’s song illustrates all of the qualities that I seek to experience in a relationship because her song talks about her appreciation for him always being there for her. The closeness and friendship comes in when she talks about how she knows that he will be next to her, and I think that care automatically occurs in any of these songs.

I do not really believe in the quest for soul mates at all because I have never thought of finding a husband in the form of a soul mate. I have always seen love as a partnership in all aspects of life, instead of the ideal that this person is your “soul mate” and is “the one.” All of the committed relationships that I know of such as my parents and grandparents are complete partnerships. They never make any decisions without each other and truly care about each other. They may be soul mates or they may not be, but I do not think that you have to be with your soul mate in order to be happy. Therefore, I agree with the quest for soul mates described in the article. If someone is lucky enough to find his/her soul mate, I think it is a 50/50 chance of working out forever. In my opinion, those who believe in soul mates may be blinded by a completely idealized relationship, and do not expect to face any problems. However, I could be wrong, but I do not expect to meet my soul mate. I expect to meet someone who will make me happy, and I could make happy in good times and bad. Someone I can just have fun with, work through difficult times with, and hopefully come out of them stronger.