I’ve been very fortunate to have been around incredibly loving relationships, from my parents and grandparents in particular.

And since I know a bunch of people in long term relationships, I see all different types of them. Sure, I may never see what happens behind closed doors, but I believe that a loving relationship will shine through whenever the two are together. That doesn’t mean my standard of a loving relationship is their standard of a loving relationship. It just means the love between the two people is real because it’s apparent. Even if it’s just in the way they look at each other.

I was with a couple the other day and the husband was leaving to go somewhere and his wife was staying behind with me and others to hang out. About ten or so minutes after he left, he called me and asked me to offer his wife a blanket in case she got cold because he knew she would be shy and not ask for it. It may seem simple but it kinda took my breath away. He seemed genuinely concerned about her and I thought it was really touching.

Just the other day, I was talking to a friend and he was telling me a story and mentioned that sometimes men need to be pushed toward marriage when they’re in a relationship. And I stopped for a second and thought about that. Would you really want to have to persuade someone into marrying you?

When I see two people in a relationship who really dig each other and get each other and love each other, it makes me happy. I like knowing it exists, because it seems so rare these days. I know everyone has to find what they’re looking for and only they can determine what that is, but I wonder why anyone would settle for anything but a truly loving relationship? And if more people held out for that, would the divorce rate be so high?

You may think I’m an idealist, living in a world that doesn’t exist. But I’m not, in fact, I’m a realist. And that’s probably why I’m single.