Okay, now I know it's strange, but I've been scrutinizing couples on their marriage compatibility these days, for some reason.

See, long ago I really was a romantic. I still am, in a way.

But since finishing Little Women earlier this summer, my beliefs in the insurmountable powers of love have been shaken at the core. I learned from the book that you actually have to be compatible and not argue a lot to get your happy ending.

So if you've got a couple who are undeniably smitten, and are willing to go to the ends of the earth for each other BUT are unable to get through one day without biting their heads off, does it mean it's unadviseable for them to marry?

What ever happened to "love conquers all!"?

A crazy example, but the first thing that came to mind when I first thought this up was Ranma and Akane from Ranma 1/2.

Nyaha.

Well, it's true! If I remember right (from the ol' Anime-crazed days), Ranma and Akane fought in every single episode. Perhaps the writers hadn't minded that all the insulting and the upper-cuts and giant mallets were getting ridiculously exhausting, inserting only wee bits of sincere and romantic moments between them. Could you imagine the two actually marrying, though? Ranma, egoistic as he is; and Akane with her legendary temper.

And then we have Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. Strong-willed, free-spirited, headstrong Elizabeth and her proud, reserved, unsociable Fitzwilliam Darcy.

Okay, maybe my examples are a bit off from normal public awareness.

What about JIMMY and CINDY then, from Jimmy Neutron!

They're both stubborn and bull-headed as hell, but that doesn't stop either of them from getting attracted to one another. They're meant for each other, those two.

I guess when it comes right down to it, love isn't all it's cracked up to be. It can get people together, but it's in keeping them together where love should prove the strongest most.

Love still conquers all. Love prevails, to this day.

But it isn't just that fleeting moment when you first meet.

It isn't the flutter in your stomach when he passes by the hall.

Heck, it isn't even the intense kiss in the airport when he flags you down last minute before you board the plane to that place in Europe.

(but you gotta admit, girls, the guy-speeches make us melt).

I think that love... is when a father rubs his wife's feet when he himself is tired, and tells her about his day after both putting the kids to bed.

Or when a wife trusts and supports her husband when he couldn't find a job through financial crisis.

Or when a guy sits beside his girlfriend's hospital bed, holding her hand through cancer.

Walk to Remember?

Love is seen the brightest, when in the dark. 

Naakana.

Nevertheless, I believe that love is compromising. Meeting halfway, you know. I don't suppose you have to totally change yourself, if that's who you really are. If it's true love, after all, your partner will love you as a whole. Even if you're mayabang, or opinionated, or secretive.

But then again, if it's true love, you'd be thinking constantly about the other person, and how to make him/her happy, not miserable, right?? So as much as you have an obligation to yourself, you should be willing to improve for the other, or else it's one-sided.

By then, all the giving and taking would ultimately make you a better person in the end. And if the relationship doesn't work out, you're at least a little more prepared to truly give your whole heart to someone else someday.

Uuukay I don't understand what I'm saying anymore.

Dr. Phil? Geez! I can't believe I wrote all that.

I bet no one could ever finish reading this entry.