What Is True Love?

If you know who I am, you would know this was bound to happen. See, I’m a hopeless romantic, so I was bound to touch on this at some point. I might as well get on with it.
Really though, what is true love?
Is it the feeling in your gut, the way a person makes you feel? The thoughts of them fill your mind throughout your days and in your dreams. Does it start at the sight of a person? Their luster overwhelms you.
I am not going to lie, I have thought these things, fantasized even, about a wedding day and a happily ever after; I am after all a hopeless romantic.
Pragmatically speaking, however, that is seldomly the case. “The happily ever after” never tells us what exactly lies “after”.
True love transcends romance, it is a choice, not just a feeling. True love is to choose to be kind, even when enraged, to bridle your tongue. True love is empathy, to see matters through the eyes of the other. True love is to be warm, a source of solace to the other and their woes. True love is to support, to seek the triumph of the other, and actively partake. True love is to sacrifice, to bear the burdens of the one that you love. True love is to be there, on sunny days and through stormy nights. True love is to believe, to trust completely all that they say and they are. True love is communication, to open a door to your thoughts and your feelings. True love is to accept, knowing their flaws and loving despite. True love is to forgive, to not call past errors to mind nor reference past mistakes.
True love is to remember, to remember why you first loved, and hold on to that. True love is romance, to remind the other of why they first loved.
True love is to love earnestly, true love is to declare true love.
True love is true friendship.