'There's a reason I said I'd be happy alone. It wasn't 'cause I thought I'd be happy alone. It was because I thought if I loved someone and then it fell apart, I might not make it. It's easier to be alone. Because what if you learn that you need love and then you don't have it? What if you like it and lean on it? What if you shape your life around it and then it falls apart? Can you even survive that kind of pain? Losing love is like organ damage. It's like dying. The only difference is death ends. This? It could go on forever.'
- Meredith, Grey's Anatomy Season 7 Ep 22
Constantly torn between the romanticism of love and the reality of it. One minute, one day,
one moment in time, you're filled with the possibility of love. The next, reality hits you in the face and you realise its impossibility.
So I face reality, and I realise that as much as I make out of my friendships, there is a gap between my ideal of friendship, and the reality of what kind of friend I can be. We're supposed to feel, then think, then act accordingly. But there's a gap. A gap I wish I could fold like a piece of paper to make two ends meet, but I can't.
Then, there's the gap between what I make out of the friendship, and what my friend makes out of the friendship. We all have different ideas of intimacy. There's always an imbalance somehow. And as much as I'd like to bridge the distance that exists between one person and another, there's a gap. A gap I wish I could fold like a piece of paper to make two friends meet, but I can't. I'd rather not break the ice if we both get caught on the shards.
Meredith: We are not better! [pause] Cristina, a psychiatrist given several opportunities has deemed me unfit to do my job.
Cristina: Well he'll get over it, just go back in a couple of days.
Meredith: You are not better!
Cristina: Well, in a couple of days I'll be better too.
Meredith: In a couple of days you'll be married.
Cristina: Are you trying to talk me out of this?
Meredith: Look at me and tell me you're sure.
Cristina: Okay, you know what? You don't get to do this. All you get to do, is help me break the tie between the lilies of the valley and the peonies. That's it.
Meredith: No, I do get to do this. Derek is the love of my life, but you're my soulmate. I do get to do this. I mean, why can't it wait six months? Your flowers aren't going anywhere! You broke up with him because he couldn't choose you. Just why does it have to be right now?
Cristina: I think, I think you should tell Derek about the miscarriage.
Meredith: We are talking about you.
Cristina: We are talking about us not being better? Then you need to tell him.
Meredith: He's not ready. He's not okay.
Cristina: You're not okay! You should tell him!
Cristina: I never gave you any crap about your post-it.
Meredith: You look beautiful.
Cristina: I know. How's Owen? Is he good?
Meredith: Owen's perfect. He's perfect.
Cristina: Thank you.
- Grey's Anatomy Season 7, Ep 1
If only life was the way they portray it on television. To have the soulmate, the friend who sticks closer than a brother (Pv 18:24). To have the kind of friend you can crawl into bed with at the end of the day, and be welcome, even when they're married. To have sentiments toward each other that are equally reciprocated. But reality is that such friendships don't exist beyond the silver screen.
And if I already feel that way about my friendships, what of love? What is love?
They say it is better to have loved and lost, than never have loved at all. But if all I feel is an emptiness that belies my sense of loss, maybe I've never really loved at all. Maybe, I never will.
There's a reason I said I'd be happy alone. It wasn't 'cause I thought I'd be happy alone.
