Love

I am a bit of a Romantic. I love old movies with Cary Grant, my favourite places are Paris, Venice, London, New York (all the un-imaginative shmooshy ones.)  I have a tendency to pair all the characters off in my stories at the end like in a Midsummer Night's Dream. (Usually my characters end up married or dead. Yikes.) I would like to stress that I'm not a terrifying, ankle-grabbing love-harpy in real life. Except for all those young men I have chained up in my cellar, obviously.

2. Love

"Love" by Jess Milton

So, I could do the old Romeo and Juliet style romantic scene, or couple of 1950s high schoolers making out on a car-bonnet. Instead I went for a sort of love 'mind-map.'

 This picture is a look at the three most recognised types of love. At the top, the two lovers kissing represent Eros - that all-consuming, whirlwind, crazy-in-love love. The sexy kind.

The two girls in the middle are a portrayal of Philos love. The kind that exists between friends - and in relationships built around friendship. I have a staggering collection of friends from my scary, all-girl's secondary school. (Frustrated-Virgins-R-Us?) I love them all very much, and despite being all over the country now when I see them nothing really changes. Its very comforting.

Finally at the bottom, Agape; unconditional love. This is the big one. The one everyone says you only really experience after years of marriage and arguing and all that jazz, or through God if you're religious (not quite ready to crack open that old chestnut yet...) I also understand it to be the sort of love you feel for your parents and family etc. But I think the kind that always makes me tear up a little is the unconditional love people have for their pets. Something about the innocence and loyalty of animals makes them incredibly important to a lot of people.

This is why I can't listen to Cat Stevens' "I Love My Dog." Or watch "Marley and Me," without crying like a wuss.