The Heart of the Matter

Sometimes I wonder if I'm on the right path...if my life and the choices I'm making are really taking me to where I'm supposed to be. How do you know?
...More on that later...

Someone asked me today, what I thought "the point of relationships is," it took me a while to answer her, mostly because I wasn't sure exactly how to phrase what I wanted to say. It's not every day that people ask questions like that, and I wanted to make sure that my answer was not just "accurate" but meaningful, to me, too.

Here's what I said to her:
"To me? I guess the point is that when you care more about someone than you do yourself, you want to dedicate yourself to trying to make them happy...and that means a monogamous relationship. I feel like the other person in my relationships is my priority. I want them to be happy always and I put all my effort into trying to make things work and to helping them. For me, vocalizing a relationship, is a promise that that is what I'm working on doing.
"I'm not saying that everything in a relationship will always be happy and perfect, it won't. I'm saying that I put the other person's needs and happiness before my own.
"I guess for me, saying I'm in a relationship with someone is hard, because it also means that in trusting them with MY happiness, my needs, as well...it's a promise that if I make them a priority in my life, they'll do the same for me.
"It's a promise to invest myself, heart and soul in another person and to close my eyes and leap. To put every effort I can muster into trying to see if the relationship is feasible, to see if it is one that can last for eternity.
"...I don't know if that makes sense to you, or if it sounds silly, but that's how I view relationships...to me it's so much more than, "I like this person and I want a boyfriend" to me, it's a promise of myself, that I'm putting myself into it and putting in the effort to try and make things work."

Sorry. I know that was long. If anyone out there in cyberspace actually reads this, answer these questions for yourself...
What do YOU believe the point of a relationship is? Why do you get into a relationship? What does it mean to you to be in a relationship with someone?
I'd love to know your answers....

<3