Romeo and Juliet: Can we ever consider the names separated? Romeo without his Juliet or Juliet without her Romeo, that would be unheard of. Everyone knows the story of the two star-crossed lovers, and it represents our idea of true love. The idea that true love is so passionate, so blinding, so intense, that even the thought of life without the beloved would be inconceivable. Caring for someone so much that in everything one does, one asks himself how this action will affect the beloved, or doing everything in one’s just to see the be

The love for a friend is truly a different picture. When one sees his/her friend upset, one will do everything in his/her power to cheer up their friend. But will also be honest with that friend and tell them “Hey, he was no good for you,” or “Actually, you do look a little chubby in that dress.” Friendship love is one of greater complexity even than of romantic love. Balancing the honesty with sincerity and loyalty takes much work. Friends are chosen family.

…I watched with voyeur’s fascination as the couple in their eighties slowly seated themselves in the rural Wisconsin Holiday Inn coffee shop for a Sunday breakfast. I began to spin a writer’s story: the brief courtship in a rural Wisconsin junior high school, a small-town wedding overflowing with family. All now long gone, a few weeks of frenzy before settling down into a lifelong marriage filled with kids and duties and traumatic week or month long fights, silent evenings and unchivalrous tenderness. I thought, “But is it love?” Is this what I am looking for? I’m charmed by what I see, but could I tolerate the well-traveled road to get there? And yet, here (I could imagine) was real companionship, a literal union of souls, two frictionless surfaces ground to a perfect fit after decades of banging and rubbing agai

Some topics in this essay:
Juliet Romeo, Holiday Inn, Juliet Montague, Romeo Juliet, Shakespearean English, romeo juliet, true love, romantic love, idea true love, love friends, idea true, rural wisconsin, pieces puzzle,