Where the Romantic and Practical Meet

Young Noah: You're bored Allie. You're bored and you know it. You wouldn't be here if there wasn't something missing. 
Young Allie: You arrogant son of a bitch. 
Young Noah: Would you just stay with me? 
Young Allie: Stay with you? What for? Look at us, we're already fightin'. 
Young Noah: Well that's what we do, we fight... You tell me when I am being an arrogant son of a bitch and I tell you when you are a pain in the ass. Which you are, 99% of the time. I'm not afraid to hurt your feelings. You have like a 2 second rebound rate, then you're back doing the next pain-in-the-ass thing. 
Young Allie: So what? 
Young Noah: So it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, for ever, you and me, every day. Will you do something for me, please? Just picture your life for me? 30 years from now, 40 years from now? What's it look like? If it's with him, go. Go! I lost you once, I think I can do it again. If I thought that's what you really wanted. But don't you take the easy way out. 
Young Allie: What easy way? There is no easy way, no matter what I do, somebody gets hurt. 
Young Noah: Would you stop thinking about what everyone wants? Stop thinking about what I want, what he wants, what your parents want. What do YOU want? What do you WANT? 
Young Allie: It's not that simple. 
Young Noah: What... do... you... want? Whaddaya want? 

This is one time the practical part of me appreciates the little bit of romantic in me. All because Noah says, "It's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you."

I'm not saying that people in love have to fight all the time, but I'm certain that people in love don't see eye to eye on a lot of things, and that causes a lot of disagreements. I'm saying that love isn't always happiness. There are a lot of rough spots. I told this to my friend Megan: love has to do with mutual respect and helping each other learn about life, about helping each other become better individuals. And that's hard. People in love fight all the time. It's not easy. It's not about money or careers; it's about finding someone whose character you like, and deciding to tough it out through thick and thin with them. It doesn't have to last forever, but we're meant to learn from it.

This isn't my complete idea of love, it's just scratching the surface of my idea. It may not be an elegant, an experienced, or even a right idea of what love is, but it's a start at what my idea of love is. It will change with time, I'm sure, but I will never believe that real love is purely physical, and I will never believe that it's all about beauty.