Conversations in Passing: The Laws of Love

Me: Do you want to get married someday? not me and you, so don't be cute

Fiona: I didn't think so but seeing as you're so insecure about it... I don't know if I want to have a wedding or even sign the certificate, but I do want passionate, no compromise, intimate companionship

Me:"a counter-intuitive love"

Fiona: and you?

Me: I don't want to get "married". I think weddings are like going to the circus. Even though celebrating love is something I believe in. I'm in this phase where I break down life and love to the extreme basic. Like, at its purest and simplest form What Is It exactly? What were people doing before they had to sign a paper and have a "wedding"? Before there was even writing or talking? They were simply loving each other, and if they wanted to stay - they stayed. Whats this "vowing" business I often wonder..

Fiona: EXACTLY. Its like trapping each other instead of loving each other

Me: Its like signing a contract. How do you sign a contract for something you can't measure? You sign a contract for your phone bill. For your job. But for love? does that sound natural??

Fiona: Right?? So that means you don't want to get "married" huh. I wonder if we will all settle in the end. The young are so idealistic.

Me: I know!! It might be generational. I mean, our parents would have been considered "old maids" by now. Now opportunities are even harder, just having a degree doesn't guarantee a job anymore. Since EVERYONE has a degree. So things like having the stuff that makes a family is like... luxury. A house, a good reliable car... friends that don't do drugs... but most importantly, you really can't tell someone you'll love them forever. You might not. Why make such a heavy promise?

Fiona: Marriage isn't really about loving someone forever, it's about security. It's signing, saying- even when I fall out of love with you, I will still be there cause you own half of my stuff

Me: True. I guess I'm like the Calabrian Catholic then.

"If you ask a Protestant from the American Midwest to commit to a dinner date next week, that Protestant, believing that she is the captain of her own destiny, will say, “Thursday night works fine for me.” But if you ask a Catholic from Calabria to make the same commitment, he will only shrug, turn his eyes to God, and ask, “How can any of us know whether we will be free for dinner next Thursday night, given that everything is in God’s hands and none of us can know our fate?”"

Fiona: HAHAHAHA. This is why FB chat should have a like button.

Me: Don't you think it's interesting in the quote that the Protestant from the Midwest is a woman and the Calabrian Catholic is a man?