Is Love More Than Sex and Romance?

Title of an article I read this morning at care2. That I read it indicates it was intriguing enough to glance; I read it through because it just had to be better later. The first line is "most of us are obsessed with finding an ideal partner." Based on what evidence? I'm not obsessed, and I don't know anyone who is. Uh. Not obsessed about that. Are most of us endlessly seeking an ideal companion? Chasing ideal would be a lifelong disappointment, wouldn't it? The second page of the article makes more sense. We need to cultivate a loving relationship with our own self. We're stuck with us for life, and beyond, even if the self beyond isn't anyone we'd recognize. Why not have a romance with our true self? I tried the I love you exercise in the mirror, and it just doesn't work. But what if I treat me like a potential ideal partner? Send me flowers, dark chocolate, mushy cards, thoughtful gifts? Have a picnic in a meadow with my never-used picnic basket, complete with linen and glasses? Send myself bright, poetic emails? Hold hands with myself in the moonlight? I wonder. Right this minute it sounds pretty good. Lavish the good behavior and dating praise I'd slather on a possible partner on me. Savor finding out what my true beliefs, tastes, joys are. And I do like dark chocolate.