Wuv...Tru Wuv...

The word love inspires many thoughts, images, and songs. Classic love stories, like Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Isolde, Helen and Paris, Anthony and Cleopatra. Images of love, like Rodin's sculpture The Kiss. Movies about love, like The Princess Bride or An Affair to Remember. Songs about love, whether it's Unchained Melodies or the Adagietto section from Mahler's 5th Symphony.

It's often a very personal thing--what suggests love to one person doesn't mean much of anything to another. Here's my top 5 list of depictions of true love--in literature, film, and song:

5. The story of Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot. Two tellings of the story in particular capture what I think is most poignant about this myth--the movie First Knight and Guy Gavriel Kay's retelling in The Fionavar Tapestry. Both of these versions show that all three people in this love triangle loved each other equally, although perhaps differently, and that in spite of being hurt and betrayed, they continued loving each other.

4. The movie Cinema Paradiso. One of my favorite movies ever, this Italian film not only tells the story of Toto's young love, but also the story of the power of love in shaping both the movies and our own lives.

3. The "Saturday Night Waltz" movement from Aaron Copland's ballet Rodeo. I've played the piece in orchestra several times, and each time, the piece sounded like what it's like to fall in love. It's what I walked down the aisle to at my wedding.

2. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I love the novel and the recent movie with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfayden. The relationship between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy progresses throughout the novel to a point where they regard each other as equals--both intellectually and socially--in spite of very different upbringings. And that respect provides the foundation for their love.

1. But for me, The Boss said it best in his song "Thunder Road":

The screen door slams
Mary's dress sways
Like a vision she dances across the porch
As the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Don't run back inside
Darling you know just what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking
That maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright
Oh, and that's alright with me

The very real deatils of the setting--the noise of the door, the song on the radio--show that this man is firmly rooted in reality, and that his love isn't a flash in the pan. And most importantly, he acknowledges that his lover isn't perfect, but that he loves her in spite of, or perhaps because of her imperfections.

And that's what I think true love is--recognizing someone for who he or she really is--faults and all--and loving them because of that. I've been lucky enough to find that--Happy Anniversary, A :)