A love that doesn't disappoint

Kay Olson

A friend and I were talking about love. She sounded pretty turned off. In her view, love was illusive, erratic, undependable. She saw it as coming and going, an impossible ideal.

"You can be in love one minute," she said, "and the next minute it's taken away and you're left with pain and sadness. Then you're no use to anyone."

She decided that being in love makes you vulnerable. "You get walked over or you become a hypocrite, loving on the outside, going along with other people to stay in their good graces, but feeling hurt and weak and sad inside."