How do we define love?

I was randomly thinking about something today, and when it occurred to me, I wondered how I had never considered this idea in the past.

Why are we as people constantly searching for an eternal lover?
You know, that person we hope to one day find, marry, and be in love with forever?

I had always looked at this notion as the norm, hoping to one day find someone like that, start a family, the usual.

But if this concept is dependable, then why are more marriages ending in divorce rather than in adjacent tombstones? Are we striving for an ideal that is almost impossible to achieve? And yes, I know there are couples that have been together for a majority of their lives and can still be happy, but for most of us? Unheard of.

So why do we still strive to find just one ever-lasting love? What if we lived under the mentality that there isn't just one person for us out there? What if the goal was instead to just be happy, and to find love when you can, even if that means beginning the cycle again and again? Maybe we're too stuck on the idea of a soulmate/husband/wife, that we no longer can appreciate or feel comfortable having a multitude of serious lovers indefinitely. I think we are searching for stability, but shouldn't we be able to find that stability within ourselves to not need another person, but still be able to welcome their presence when/if they arrive?

And then I wonder about the way our society structures families. If people didn't marry, but just remained involved in a relationship until it soured, but still had children, then the concept of "family" would alter a bit, too. Though, nowadays most families are like this anyway. But it's interesting that society puts so much focus on the idea of a "family." What if it meant something different? Something less bonded to a small group of blood relatives, but more connected to everyone around you. I'm not sure if this part makes sense. I didn't really think about the family aspect until just now. It's weird to me because I'd barely questioned either of these things. It makes me wonder what other societal traditions I've solidified as "the norm" in my mind, but that don't necessarily need to be considered normal.

I love this job

I really love designing graphics in Photoshop. I used to do it a lot in middle school and high school, but after I got a Mac a couple years ago and never bought Photoshop to go with it, my love for graphic design has become stagnant. But now I get to use Photoshop for SPOP all the time and it's a nice outlet and reminder of something I love. Today, I was at the DOS office working on some stuff with Photoshop, and I started thinking about what criteria you need to meet to fit this SPOP position, since Photoshop skills were one of the last things I considered when I applied. And then I started thinking about all of the other things we've had to do so far and the projects that we're currently working on, and a lot of them are things I took for granted in the past or that I also didn't think of when I applied to be a Coordinator. I really enjoy each task, some are just different than I had assumed.

But then I started thinking about what actually WAS asked of us in our application and interview. Most of the questions tried to gain an understanding of who I am as a person, rather than how punctual I am, what experience I have, and other things that employers often ask of prospective candidates to see how good of a worker they are instead of how good of a person. After thinking about that for a second, it made me really grateful that all of these assignments and duties get pushed on us, but with confidence that we are capable of doing them. The thought of five students planning and implementing a program for 130 staffers and over 4,000 freshmen is crazy. The faith that Mike and Jill have in the Coordinators each year really blows me away. I'm not sure anyone has believed in me right off the bat the way they do. It just really means a lot to know that we could have all been hired with zero Photoshop skills or talents in other areas that we utilize...and that would be OK. I remember asking Mike awhile back if there was some sort of training for this position. He smirked a little and said that there could never really be any training to be a SPOP Coordinator, and that you learn more about the position everyday. Even when you're done, you probably won't know everything there is to know.