LoVeLust?!

Ah, the day old question: What's the difference between love and lust?

The answer is simple: Lust is simply that burning desire and yearning to eagerly find LOVE. In layman's terms? It's a deceivingly wonderful mask that our object of affection wears to make us believe we are actually IN love.

But how do we decipher the two? Isn't there a manual for this kind of thing?

Now for those of you who know me, Carrie is my love slash relationship goddess. But can she provide the answers I need as I watch countless re-runs of Sex and the City?

Maybe...

But wasn't she IN LUST and IN LOVE with BIG!? Carrie, my dear, help a girl out!

Because I couldn't find the answer, I decided to define the two:
(In the same manor I used to write pro/con lists between two crushes in high school) And this is what I came up with:

Lust is: 
sexy,
passionate,
tempting,
crazy,
HOT!
that lovely feeling you get when the butterflies tingle throughout your entire body upon mere thought of him/her,
unexpected,
upon first sight,
upon first kiss,

WES WELKER?! (I kid, I kid)

In other words, lust is an overwhelming feeling that happens upon mere seconds of being within the vicinity of that person. It begs to question your sanity...

Love on the other hand, is a mutual understanding, a sense of security, a promise, an "I do", and an "I always will love you". (Please resist the urge to belt out Whitney right now, I had to.) Love is growing old together, a give and take, a reason to believe that everything IS possible. Love is what every living thing craves and NEEDS. More importantly, love is not only a combination of all these entities, but love IS that fun sexy side of lust.

Yes, it's true.

You can be MADLY IN LOVE and LUST after your partner. But you must be careful not to confuse the two...

Agh. I need another manual. 

Confusing the two, will not only lead you into believing you too, can be the character phenomenon Stephanie Myer seemingly created over night (Bella), but believing one's intentions are far less than what you expected. And thanks to Mr. Shakespeare himself, I do believe this to be true: "Expectation is the root of all heartache."

I was once in love/lust.

I say love/lust because I was totally head over heels "in love"? Or so I thought. It turns out I had spent a solid year of my life trying to convince my knight in shining tinfoil, that we were in fact going to have a solid future together. Maybe it was his perfect smile...or the way his ass looked in a pair of jeans...either way our relationship was entirely divulged in a sea of passion followed by arguments that would lead us no where.

How did I determine it was simply lust? From the moment I tried to have an honest conversation with him. I could not cry on his shoulder, reveal my deepest darkest secrets, or simply be myself in fear that he would not accept me...

That my friends is not love. Love is being able to completely lose it; go BAT-SHIT crazy. (You know those crazy conversations you have with him after too many glasses of wine that go a little something like this: YOU DON'T LOVE ME ANYMORE! I'M NOT PRETTY ENOUGH! YOU CHECKED OUT THE GIRL AT THE DELI! WAH!) Don't act like you haven't done it... OR those lovely tantrums you throw when you are on your period. SHIT, he might as well just call a guy's night. The forecast is calling for unreasonable crying, The Notebook, and chocolate covered chips.)

Love, my friends, is being able to HANDLE and ACCEPT that MESS! :) But seriously, you know you are in love when your partner is able to accept you for you and you are able to accept him for him. Love is knowing that you have an actual future together...

HappyHour Readers: What are your thoughts on love and lust?

Stellar Sky