Post 25: “All you need is love”

Tonight and tomorrow make up the festival Tu B’Av, often described as the Jewish Valentine's Day. On this date in biblical times, single men and women would meet in the fields and vineyards to dance and hopefully find love. To create equal opportunities, everyone wore simple white cotton garments, so that you couldn't tell who was rich or poor.

Dating today seems to be a lot more complicated. Some people use technology to strike up a spark, but this can lead to some dark places. Others might try speed dating, but can you really tell what someone's like in the time it takes to boil a very runny egg?

TV, film and even music can give us false expectations about how easy it is to meet the right person, and what relationships are meant to be like. The pressure of perfection is alive and well when it comes to partnerships. The art of compromise is rarely mentioned.

We also live in a time where, in many countries, a whole range of relationships are not just acceptable but becoming the norm. People have choices. This is no small thing. People who love each other being able to live an extraordinarily ordinary life.

No matter how you pick your partner, living with someone on a full time basis can present challenges. I can't tell you how to make it work for you - but I'd say that it's a journey, a process, it changes as you grow individually and together.

However you got together, whether you were young or old, met at the office or online, live together or apart, keep one thing in mind… at some point in history you were just two people in plain white cotton, dancing in a vineyard and destined to meet.

Happy anniversary Mark Creeger