A completely unscientific take on Chemistry...
Husband and I were watching something on TV and chanced on a Jerry Springer outtake - a trans woman having a meltdown. This led us to a discussion of the hows and whys of such a procedure , if you can call it that. How does a man act, feel and gesture like a woman ? Is it an acquired trait, like an accent ? Is it all down to hormones at the end of it ? At the end of it, is it all down to biochemistry ? In that case, can you engineer anyone to act and behave like someone else ?
This led me to think about other things. Like the way we seek a partner. Everyone has thought about this at some point in their lives. Thought about what makes a man and a woman special to each other ? Is it physical chemistry, is it intellectual and emotional compatibility ? Is it humor, is it the ability to laugh and have fun ? What makes a couple tick ?
And then of course, the societal mores. The peer influence, the worry about old age, having kids and such. Every race, every ethnicity has their own peer pressure to deal with, when it comes to relationships and marriage. Even the most liberal ones. After all, late twenties-early thirties is when a majority of people find love, get married, have kids , not necessarily in that order.
What I think it boils down to is this : There is the "you" piece, and then the "us" piece. Both pieces are equally important. Each individual has to go through a personal journey before which they are ready to be an "us". To some that journey is pretty short, they seem to be prepared for it since childhood. To some others, it involves a soul searching journey of meeting and making friends, falling in love, career, money, travel - all of this somehow contribute to getting them to a place of relationship readiness. That is the you piece.
And then there is the us piece - the part where chemistry happens, you both hit it off. All about compatibility and such. Much has been written about why we marry the people we marry - tons of theories about chemical composition, hormones, psychological reasons, sociological, anthropological - you name it. This particular emotion has been the most well-researched topic of modern times, and entire multi-billion dollar film industries depend on it. So I won't comment on this piece, except say the most cliched thing in the book - When it happens , it happens.
So then there is the timing bit - when you both are at that place in your personal journeys where if you meet the right person, you'll give it what it takes - your everything. Right person, right timing. I guess thats what it comes down to.
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