Questions

Love makes the world go round, or so they say. Love is also such a diverse and complicated concept that I'm not sure we really know what it is.

Mothers love their offspring. That is probably as much about preservation of the species biologically as it is anything else, because some mothers are better than others and who is to calculate how their love is expressed?

The same is true for lovers. Without mating the species dies, but it is the quality of the life that surrounds mating that defines love for most people who consider themselves deeply in love.

I think that love, once the simple biological drives are excluded, centers around trust.

After being in a relationship for thirty years where trust was totally degraded, I know it is very hard for me to even think of trusting someone with my deepest feelings and my heart. My best friend has helped me with that. He is the one constant in my life. I know I can trust him. He is teaching me trust.

I thought I had reached a place where my life was totally stable. I never expected to deal with falling in love, again. There was much comfort in that, but now it is possible my world is tipping and it all boils down to trust.

Am I too damaged to dangle my toes in this?  Is the world too dangerous and full of pit holes for me to attempt to maneuver my way through something as complicated as love? Will I stay on the edge, carefully circumventing what might be the greatest experience of my life because I can't trust, or is that a valid response for someone in my position?

These are legitimate questions, some of the toughest I've ever had to deal with.