Love?

This was inspired by someone's note - What's Love Got To Do With It? - It got me thinking about the normative view of the "ideal" partner and the "healthy" relationship. I still don't seem to get the general consensus or the fine line it draws between what's "good" and what's "bad".

Typical "Mouwasafet" of the Better Half - honest, loyal, unique, educated, a good listener, not alcoholic, not on drugs, doesn't sleep around, etc. etc.

How inflexible is that? & What does it take to break the norm? Love?

Assume you're in love. With a married person. "Cheating" takes a whole new meaning. It may even lose its meaning. You thought you'd never bear it, but there s/he is, in bed, with his/her spouse, every night.

Or if you're in love with a compulsive liar. Or a pessimist. Or a dramaqueen.
Or a prostitute. Or a constant traveler. Or a "bottom" like yourself.

Do you lose the relationship? Or the ego?
Along with the core "values" you'd always sought?

When do they cease to matter - the lies, the drama, the ego, the distance, the hash, the multiple partners, etc? When do you become immune to the "bad" stuff? How do you make peace with it? Why go through it in the first place? What makes it worth it?

Do such "relationships" ever end? I don't get how such a love can be defeated. Or is there a difference, between the love and the relationship?

I don't know.

-tfm