How Do You Know You're In Love?

       This week was very interested in my Family Relations class. I'm truly cherishing the things I have been learning in this class. They have become valuable and eye opening for me. This week I have been extra excited to share this blog post. Being how it is Valentines Day weekend I really wanted to brag and talk up my beautiful wife! My wife's name is Estefani and she truly is my best friend.
       Growing up as a family, we faced some very emotional, spiritual, and difficult trials. It was very hard for me as well as my siblings'. Okay, now jump forward in time. When I met my wife I had one distinct thought, and that was that I had felt like she was the big and special blessing that God had been preparing for me for making it through all the hard trials I faced growing up. Now having had her in my life and knowing what she has done to help me change and become a better person. I would go through that hard trial ten times over and over if I had known that my sweet wife was the one who was waiting at the finished line for me. Now a new race has begun. The race of life that is married and starting our family.
    In class this week we learned about different meanings of love. The first one is Storge which is the kind of affection that you would find between parents and their children. The second one is Philia which is the kind of love that you would find between friends. The third one is Eros. We get erotic from this word which is a kind of sexual love. According to my text book "Aristotle said that eros makes people long to be in each others presence" (Chapter 6, Falling in Love, Marriage and Family The Quest for Intimacy, Page 131.) The fourth kind of love is Agape. This love is the kind of of selfless love, you act for the betterment of another person.
      Now one question you might want to ask yourself is which one makes for the relationship? What kind of love is a lasting love that will carry you through the hard times as well as the good times? In my own opinion I would say that a successful relationship should have all these kinds of love. Why? Because it is a well rounded kind of love to adapt to each kind of experience and or trial that life will throw at you. I guess the trick is to balance each one out in a relationship or perhaps to find out how to even incorporate one. I'm grateful to say that the foundation of my wife and I's relationship has a base of each of these. Now in no way is it perfect. It takes work to balance each one. And it could be very easy to completely neglect one if you are not paying attention. However a thought I had was that each one of these kinds of love grow with experience and a delicate amount of attention you give it. My wife has each one of these. She teaches me so much and she is truly such a gifted person. I feel like my love for her grows everyday. I knew I was in love with her as I got to know her. I got to know how she was as a person. I got to see her in rough situations, happy situations, and loving situations. I think the real answer to know you know in your love based on the kind of person you are.