Fairy Tales.

I still believe in fairy tales.

Ridiculous, non? Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous. You'd think my history of incredibly poor decision-making would have cured me of that particular childish desire years and years and years ago.

But, the truth is, I still believe in happily-ever-after. I still believe in forever and sunsets and growing old and grand gestures and the power of love and romance and all that other 10-year-old girl stuff.

And I want a fairy tale. I want happily ever after. I want a relationship that's going to last forever, or at the very least, the rest of my lifetime.

My Prince Charming appreciates my cooking, and is perfectly willing to do the dishes. He'll indulge my ridiculous desire for low-key drama because he loves me. In return, I'll put up with whatever childishness he's still holding on to, because let's be honest, we're all little children somewhere in our emotional selves. Somewhere there's that one thing that everyone else outgrew that we just didn't. That one idea that was implanted by deep social conditioning that most people manage to expunge, but we just didn't. That one that took root real deep and isn't getting ripped out anytime soon because it's become part of the foundation of our identity.

There are so many of these messages that not everyone gets stuck with the same one. Some people get indoctrinated with gender roles, that men work and women cook and that's love. Some people get indoctrinated with holidays, that birthdays and Valentine's Day and the like are the real measure of love. Some get stuck with ideas about what good sex is, or what good sex is not. Some get materialism in full force, the "white-picket-fence" syndrome.

These are all pieces of baggage that individuals bring to relationships.

Me? I get stuck with commitment. Somehow, somewhere, I picked up this idea of committing and committing fully and that as long as two people meet as themselves and remain fully committed, they can work out anything. You ever seen that movie with Heather Graham? In a way, I'm like her. I'd really like to believe that if I ever get married again, I could get a tattoo for a wedding ring. I'd really like to find someone that understands that about me.

I guess you could say that "I'm looking for baggage that goes with mine."

And maybe that's really the key to a good relationship. We all have these little bits of social more lodged in the crevices of our brains; so much gets thrown at us that something sticks, no matter how rational and above it you like to think yourself.

So the key is finding someone whose bits of accumulated peer-induced flotsam match up with your own.

Not real helpful as a revelation, is it? No. I thought not.