There can be a lot of hurt in love, and there is always risk, and one can't help wondering sometimes if there couldn't be a better way to live.
--Merle Shain

We want to love and be loved, and we mistakenly believe the right significant other will complete our world. The pain and troubling times that fester within a growing, changing relationship aren't really part of the bargain -- or so we think -- and the decision to stay eludes us sometimes. We run, and then we find ourselves once again longing for completion with another.

What we must understand is that the journey, alone or in partnership, will be uphill at least half the time. But we must also believe the path will only be as rugged as it needs to be to ensure our fullest development.

We simply must trust that it's worth the effort to love, and love some more, even when it hurts, even when we see only darkness at the end of the tunnel. The light will dawn.