15 Comments
User's avatar
David Grebow's avatar

The Greeks gad a more nuanced way of looking at love. The most well-known categories include:

Eros:

Passionate, romantic, and often sexual love.

Philia:

Deep friendship and affection, characterized by intimacy and shared interests.

Storge:

Familial love, encompassing the bond between parents and children, siblings, and other family members.

Agape:

Unconditional, selfless, and universal love, often associated with a divine or spiritual source.

Beyond these four, the Greeks also explored other forms of love, including:

Ludus: Playful and flirtatious love, often found in early stages of romantic relationships.

Pragma: Long-lasting love that develops through shared experiences and commitment.

Philautia: Self-love, which can be both a healthy and unhealthy form, depending on its expression.

Mania: Obsessive and often unhealthy love

You have only moved from Eros to the many other forms of love

You are truly well loved.

Expand full comment
Kelli's avatar

That is beautiful. Thank you.

Expand full comment
Dan Solomon's avatar

While I have been married happily for many years, our marriage has evolved over those years. If anything, we are closer in spirit and admire each other more. However, the ardent passion has waned somewhat and that is understandable.

I realize that not everyone needs a spouse to feel fulfilled. Kelli, it is great that you can be happy without one. In any case, I hope you recover very soon from your illness. We all missed your wonderful writing.

Expand full comment
Kelli's avatar

Thank you so much Dan 🙏🏻☺️🤍

Expand full comment
C.J's avatar

Beautiful ❤️.

Expand full comment
Peter Doran's avatar

Fantastic piece Kel. Maturing beautifully!!

Expand full comment
Kelli's avatar

Thank you Peter ☺️🤍

Expand full comment
TRHOC's avatar

Interesting article. First: Hope you conquer the illness. Second: your description of enjoying being alone with your dog is charming. We live differently yet I enjoy your point of view. I married at 18 and was widowed at 66. Three years later I remarried. That was 17+ years ago. Yes, I am 86. I would have lived happily alone but just “bumped into” the right person to spend the rest of my life with. He’s an animal lover, and at one point we had 4 dogs and 7 cats together. Time saw that number shrink to one and one. But we love our fur babies and, the way people move all over the country, we see them a lot more often than our children and grandchildren. The fur babies are old, too, and we lament that time when there will be none, but know that it must be.

Expand full comment
Kelli's avatar

You are very blessed to have known that type of love twice. I think it’s beautiful. 🤍🤍

Expand full comment
michael holt's avatar

This was deeply meaningful to me personally, Kelli. Thank you for baring your own soul and defining where many of us find ourselves. Very brave of you! ❤️

Expand full comment
Kelli's avatar

Thank you so much Michael 🤍🤍

Expand full comment
Simon Powell's avatar

Great to see you challenging yourself with your writing and doing so with something so personal and meaningful. Brilliant piece, really thoughtful.

Hope you’re feeling better mate 😊

Expand full comment
Kelli's avatar

Thank you Simon 🙏🏻☺️

Expand full comment
Ian Mark Sirota's avatar

Beautiful piece. This divorced guy can definitely relate. Feel better soon!

Expand full comment
Kelli's avatar

Thanks Ian.

Expand full comment