[ WP ] Talk to me about love

I want to roll my eyes at this prompt. 
 
 I want to mumble something about how overplayed it is, how generic this prompt is-seeing how Valentine's Day is around the corner ( and do n't get me started on that ridiculous holiday ) and just brush it off. 
 
 But I ca n't. 
 
 Because love, dammit. 
 
 Because I used to think I knew what love was. 
 
 I used to lie awake at night and tell myself stories. All the ways that I would fall in love with handsome strangers. All the way they would fall in love with me. 
 
 It would be sexy and magical and sweet. 
 
 But then I got older. And I started falling in love. And I realized that there are as many ways to fall in love as there are people in this whole big world. 
 
 You fall in love with a boy, who's funny and charming and cute. You fall in love with the way he holds your hand and kisses your lips softly. 
 
 You fall in love with your friends, who stay up late with you speaking in a code made up of inside jokes and warm beer. 
 
 You fall in love with yourself, when you are doing the things that make you feel whole - like writing or painting. 
 
 You fall in love with your pets, who make you feel like a grown up for the first time - who rely solely on you for scratches and food. 
 
 You fall in love with you family in a whole new way - nothing beats having drinks and grown up conversation with your parents in your own home. 
 
 You fall in love with a girl, who is magical and beautiful and strong and funny and feels like your soulmate in a new sort of way you did n't know existed. 
 
 You fall in love with your babies-they lay them on your chest and you realize that now there are these little pieces of your soul running around outside you and it is surreal and wonderful. 
 
 And then love starts changing and growing into stranger and darker shapes. 
 
 And it's still love, but it hurts. It's achey and sad. 
 
 Now, you love the boy every day but it's different. You love who you were, when it was just the two of you - but you also love this new dynamic where you are parents and crawl into bed together exhausted and manage a small kiss before passing out. 
 
 Now, you love your friends but you just watch them on social media and leave random comments saying things like `` remember when..?'' and you love when `` yes, they do remember'' and you know that even though it's all different, it's still the same. 
 
 Now, you love yourself but it's hard to remember why sometimes. So you have to work on that love, because it's hard to look in the mirror and not recognize the person who is a little older and fatter and slightly more boring than the person you first loved. 
 
 Now, you love your pets but they have been replaced in priority by the other babies. You still snuggle their faces and say things like `` remember when it was just us'' and they know what you mean. 
 
 Now, you love your family but there is pressure and advice and all sorts of things that fall under the `` they mean well'' category. 
 
 Now, you love the girl - but all you have to love are the memories. Her body and her voice are gone but you take out the moments often, to hug and whisper `` i miss you'' to. 
 
 Now, you love your babies but you know they are growing out of the love you had when they were littles. It is stretching to fit them but it wo n't for long. It will grow into a new kind of love every day, into older and different love. 
 
 More and more, all the ways you can love are changed by painful memories and people who do n't stay. Sometimes we can hold the things we love, sometimes we can only remember. Sometimes loving makes us cry and sometimes it makes us smile. 
 
 But we keep on loving anyway. 
 
 Because love, dammit.
