I previously posted this "elsewhere", but it's still true for me...
Anyway...unconditional love...we talk about it as if it's an ideal, a goal, some loftier version of love than the plain ol' everyday kind. And I'm not entirely sure that's true. Don't get me wrong...it sounds lovely. And it is, in fact, the kind of love I have for my child (where I think it's appropriate and well-placed). But I think that unconditional love between adult partners is somehow often misplaced...
It seems like every time I read or hear someone say "unconditional love" in the context of an adult relationship, it's immediately followed by a list of horrible and even hateful behavior. Why is that? Why do we think that because we love someone unconditionally that it means we should accept mental, physical and emotional abuse at their hands? Why does it mean that we respond like that dog...wagging our tails after being kicked? It's almost as if, by picking the partners we picked, they use our "unconditional love" as a license to mistreat us, rather than appreciate us...and that's just wrong.
For me, unconditional love is what I want to do inside of a fundamentally sound, respectful, (and I suppose conditional) relationship.
Let me (at least try to) explain...
If my "partner" abuses me, cheats on me, kicks me when I'm down...then they aren't my partner. We don't have a love relationship. What we have is an abusive relationship, a using relationship or a messed up game. And, if that's what we have, then I'm gone. For me, there is no call to be loving to someone who is abusive in return. Period. Again...just for me...but that's absolutely and completely non-negotiable. And yes...that's a condition. My conditions for being with me are honesty, faithfulness, reciprocated love, no abuse of any kind and true commitment.
Now, if we have those things...then what we have is a loving relationship. And, inside of that, I will love unconditionally. I will love you when you're sick, in a bad mood, struggling with insecurities or confusion, and any or all of your human frailties and foibles. And I expect that you would love me unconditionally and do the same for me. I do not expect perfection or even consistent good behavior...we are human and fallible and magnificently flawed...and I can embrace all of that. I expect that there will be times that I am carrying the whole burden, and times that you will. I expect that there will be times that I don't feel loving, and times that you won't. I expect that we will disagree and argue and struggle with things between us. I expect that we will both screw up and have to ask forgiveness from each other. And all of those things are fine and okay and even good...because they forge a connection...a connection that allows us to love and trust each other unconditionally and completely.
