I've always been a follower of, "The grass grows where you water it." The belief that there's one person out there you absolutely have to be with is something I see hurting a lot of people because they start overlooking signs that they're in a relationship with someone who just doesn't mesh with them, because yadda yadda if I fail true love I must really be a failure and will die alone.

The problem is that true love doesn't come with a label, it's open to interpretation.

This might seem cynical, but I watched my mother's two dysfunctional marriages tear her life apart and suffered her choices myself with bruises, hunger, fear, isolation, and neglect. From her I learned to immediately walk away from the boyfriend who tried to drug my drink when I was only 16 (went upstairs and demanded a ride home from his dad when he broke down crying about it!), not throw my arms around him and weep Disney-style about how we'll overcome his tragic problems.

As of now I'm in a good relationship where we've ironed out our communication difficulties while the 59-year-old woman still has screaming matches with a smooth ex-convict most of the family avoids when possible. Doesn't seem to mind that he harassed, spied on, stole from, locked out, taunted, and once assaulted my brother and I, but I guess that's true love for you - he just had to convert to a church man and say he was sorry.

Put my vote down for cynicism.