Love: It's Finger Lickin' Good

The Greeks believed in three types of love: eros, agape, and philia. Philia is the unconditional love that families share. We don't have much of a choice when it comes to philia, that's why it's unconditional. Agape is friendly love, the love that we have for our friends. Agape is totally voluntary and can be doled out in whatever quantities we like. Eros is the bwah-chicka-bwah bwah love. It's the sort of love that involves hormones and keeps the adult industry afloat in turbulent economic times.
However, true love, the mushy sort that's idealized in girly flicks and Nicholas Sparks novels, is none of these sorts of love. People don't get weak kneed about the love shared over Thanksgiving dinner or pine for male bonding time. When we idealize true love, we seperate it from the other types of loves present in our everyday life. What is often overlooked is that true romantic love is simply a combination of agape, philia, and eros. Romantic love combines the unconditionality of philia, the warm and fuzzy feelings of agape, and the hormonally fuelled drive of eros. Romantic love is simply all three loves mixed together in a unique way to make something new. Think of it like the secret spices at KFC. Everyone who knows anything about fried chicken knows what the secret spices are. It's not like Colonel Sanders discovered a new spice and has been secretly mining it in the Appalachian Mountains ever since. It's the blend that's unique. After all, no one can replicate the artery-clogging goodness of KFC. Romantic love is kind of like that.
Now I don't pretend to know a lot about love. My experiences with it have been fleeting, and I'm convinced that I might have some sort of allergy to romantic situations based on the amount of word vomit, nausea, and cold sweating they induce. What I do know is that love is something powerful and awesome. Anything that can so convincingly override our survival instincts and selfish impulses has to be a good thing. And what could be stronger than a spicy mix of the love of family, the bonds of friendships and the stuff that makes us want to do the horizontal mamba? So just remember that when you see that dreamy Keanu Reeves in one of his heartjerking romantic movies (sigh...The Matrix), the emotion he's displaying is not just one love, but three.