When I think of love, the first memory that comes to mind is the moment I asked my mother, “What is Love?” My mother’s answer was simple, “Love is a strong feeling a boy and a girl experience toward each other” but is that all love is, a feeling? Love is a lot more than just a feeling. Love can be expressed in millions of ways. No two people in the world have the same definition, which makes love so unique. As I grew up, my definition of love altered from all the moments I experienced.

I was 6 years old when I watched the Walt Disney movie, Cinderella, for the first time. To everyone, the movie was just about a girl who lost her slipper but had it found by a prince and in the end they got married. However, as I was sitting in front of the TV holding my teddy bear, unable to move my eyes from the screen, it meant more than an average fairytale. This was exactly how my perfect life would be. I longed to meet my Prince Charming and walk off into the sunset with the credits of “And They Lived Happily Ever After” appearing. This was true love, real love, my definition of love. I thought it was that easy, you meet your soul mate, fall in love and get married. Love was my life goal, I wanted nothing more but to find it, keep it and tuck it under my pillow forever.

Five years later, I stubbed upon a book of poems and a poem that really stood out was “The Definition of Love”, by Andrew Marvell. This poem triggered past memories of my perspective of love. No longer the child I was when watching Cinderella, I started to question how I really felt about love. After reading “But ours, so truly parallel, though infinite, can never meet” I began to think “Was this poem true? Was my optimistic view of love wrong?” At this time I believed that love was not as perfect and easy to achieve as I thought. Love was now not as meaningful. I soon considered that love was impossible to find, let alone maintain.

Now I am 17 years old and even though it seems like my life is only beginning, I realize a lot, like the real definition of love. I no longer consider love to be perfect or ridiculously confusing, even if it might be difficult to come across. Although, I do believe this abstract feeling is 100% possible. If someone approached me today and asked “What is love?” my response would be simple, “Love is happiness.” The day I meet my Prince Charming I’m not quite sure how I’ll feel but I’ll know deep inside my heart that this is love. I might even feel the same way I felt 11 years ago when I watched Cinderella. Love may be considered crazy and uncontrollable but to me, love is beautiful yet so simple