I've come to the conclusion that love is not a feeling.
Feelings change like the weather. But love is like a boulder embedded deep in the ground. Whether it rains on the rock, the wind blows, or the sun shines with warmth, or lightning strikes it, the stone remains essentially the same although the atmosphere around it may change.
See, if it were just a feeling, the solution would be ever so simple: just wait for it to pass, because feelings are by nature inconstant and transitory.
Love on the other hand, takes time and effort and pain to root out, and then you're left with a raw and gaping gash in your soil.

Hmmm. This analogy is no good. Earth sign though I am, stones are impassive. OK, how about this: a tree. If you catch it young and don't want it, you can sometimes root out a tree seedling or hope the weeds will crowd it out. Neglect it, ignore it, sometimes it dies. Water it, even a little...and the tap root goes down, squirms its way into your heart and wraps it's tendrils through and around it. Again, the tree is relatively steadfast. It goes through the seasons, but the framework and body of it is the same. Spring may find it covered in blooms, or smitten by an early frost, and in winter it goes quiet and still; its the same tree while time, weather, and the seasons change. Again, it can be rooted up, leaving wreckage and a hole where it used to be...or it can die...slowly...or suddenly, as in being cut down. Sometimes the stump sends forth new shoots, and nurtured by the extensive root system, they grow and replace the old trunk and its branches. Trees change, they grow and develop...so I think they're more suited to the analogy than boulders (much as I love stones).

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OK, something totally unrelated now. This. I had to laugh, because I just went and broke the link to here that I'd had posted on my personal website. Decided it was just a little too risky-mainly because my dad had just asked for the URL to my site (not the blog). I don't think he'll run a search on me. #1, he doesn't care enough to do so. #2, it won't occur to him to do so- I know my dad. #3, even if he does, I don't think he'll find it. I ran a search on myself once and it didn't come up within the first 4-5 pages as far as I could tell. Still, if he did....well, it'd be a fucking mess, that's what. ::shudder:: Actually, I don't think anyone at all reads this stuff. It's too boring. *attempts to lull self into a state of complacency*