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As of today, I have been dating that adorable woman above, Sydney, for 6 months.  For those who know me, especially, let that sink in for a moment… half-a-year.  OMG, I know!

The preceding 6 months have, certainly, been the best 6-month-period of my life thus far.  As I wrote about in my post on the subject of our 4th monthiversary, this has been a fantastic time of learning and growth… and that’s on top of every bit of peace, laughter, and physical closeness that has gone into this relationship-salsa.  This isn’t the dull, rote learning of a general ed. college course one is forced to take and has zero interest in, though; I LOVE learning what I’ve been learning.  One of the greatest concepts I’ve come to better understand is this:

Love is a choice.

Over the years I’ve heard that piece of advice frequently offered in conversations of what makes a good relationship, but I had no real concept as to how it looked in romantic practicality.  During these months I’ve spent with The Syds, though, I have come to finally grasp an understanding of what it is like to choose to love.  I’m not perfect (shocking, I know), and much to my surprise, neither is my girlfriend.  We are both imperfect people who are so attracted to one another and cherish each other so much that we are able to bond despite these imperfections.  For someone like myself, who so often struggled with the notion of my own imperfection or being in a relationship where one must — GASP — compromise, this has been a novel experience.  Sydney and I have shared a countless amount of hearty laughs together in these 6 months, and we have also shared some very touching nearly-tearful moments of conversation… both of which strengthen our relationship in different ways.  There are times, though, when perhaps being who I should be in this relationship isn’t naturally forthcoming.  Don’t get me wrong — Sydney is one of the most wonderful people I’ve ever known, and she makes loving and being in a relationship with her extremely easy.  No qualifiers on that.. she’s stinkin’ great!  Due to the aforementioned imperfections, though, I quickly discovered that sometimes my immediate responses to situations with her weren’t ideal.  Being a mature adult, I’m able to apologize when I falter or express my feelings when perhaps I’m on the receiving end of a less-than-ideal response of hers, and she’s done the same.  As brilliant as this relationship has been, and it’s exceptionally smooth sailing 99.7% of the time, what has excited me even more than the fun, the firsts of smoochin’ and saying “I love you,” and the fact that she’s so foxy is that through this wonderful woman’s grace and compassion I have come to understand what it means to choose to love someone.

To look at it through another lens, love is action.  The feelings of affection, empathy, compassion, attraction — these are all parts of the whole that is Love, but if these remain internal, if they are never shared with the one who inspires their existence, these feelings keep to the lesser realms of love.  Love is action, in that to express love we must… EXPRESS love.  This may be done through a kind word, a patient ear to listen, or a selfless act, but love must be expressed.  We choose to express this love — we choose how and to whom — and in a relationship, this is a consistent activity.  At least, it seems that it should be 🙂 .  I choose to show this woman in my life as much love as I can muster in any given situation, because that is what I feel she deserves.  What’s fascinating to me, and something I never understood before, is how this becomes a machine of perpetual motion.  Even if I am not feeling something — perhaps I’m super tired or slightly irritable for reasons totally unrelated to her (or even if it WERE to be related to her) — by choosing to show Sydney love, my feelings grow, which in turn causes me to want to express my love even more.

And so on and so forth it goes, feeling building atop action and action building atop feeling.

Love is never a chore, either.  Though the loving actions or reactions may not be first-instinct in a given situation, and in all sincerity at points it has been really tough to grow past my selfish inclinations, I have realized time and again how fortunate I am to be able to show my girlfriend love.  Whether it’s in a way that she sadly hasn’t received much of before or if it’s just the simple fact that I open the car door for her every time she gets in, I have discovered what a blessing it is to be the one who is able to express this love to her.  She deserves more than I can likely ever give (and she might very well say the same about me), but I delight in the fact that I am the one who is able to portray the best version of love that I can for her.  It is my absolute honor 🙂 .  And so, though she makes it extremely easy anyways, I still take responsibility for making the daily choice to love this woman… and for 6 months and counting, I have enjoyed the heck out of being able to do so!

Just as I never fully understood what it meant to choose to love a partner (I have still barely scraped the top of the iceberg, I’m sure), I have no way of conceptualizing just how much better this relationship can actually get — but I can’t wait to find out 🙂 .

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And to my Thundernut, my Happy Smiley, my Pikachu/Togepi/Vulpix, my Sydster… while I’m slightly disappointed that the monetary/physically existent giftage can’t flow heavily from me right now, I hope you can enjoy this post in lieu of a hand-made present this month, and accept the gift that is my whole heart (I know you will… I mean, it’s totally adorable and sweet, so obvi you’ll love it).  I can’t wait to see you and spend the entire day with you, and I hope I can express just a fraction of how you make me feel… because I choo-choo-choose us ❤ ❤ ❤ .