Submission: True love extends beyond romance, encompasses friendship

Growing up with Disney princess movies, I often discredited “love” stories as ridiculous obsessions with knights in shining armor. While these films provided entertainment, they rarely ever presented a story that could actually play out in my life (most likely due to the lack of suitable horses in Los Angeles). However, while watching the newest film from Disney,“Frozen,” I was relieved to see a different type of love take center stage. Although I was not so vapid as to think that love can only occur in romantic relationships, love really does exist outside the typical mold of two intimately associated individuals. True love is not always with a prince or even a handsome Australian hunk. True love can be with anyone.

For me, true love is my roommates: Cynthia Lee, Alisa Silsbee, Kelsie Sandoval and Shawna Chan. Through the fun times and the not-so-fun, these four women are the ones I enjoy sharing my life with. After all, isn’t that what love really is? Liking someone enough to say, “Hey, why don’t you invade my personal space for a while, and in return I will invade yours?” I think that’s what makes love so special; that it’s not always easy, and sometimes it’s really freaking hard. Even when the bathroom is trashed and there are dirty dishes in the sink, the five of us are kept together by more than just a four-year bond. Together, we have been through some mediocre times, stress with relationships and mental deterioration from bad grades. But we have also had countless good times, or as Kelsie has coined, “bonding experiences,” which often altered my judgment and perception of things going on in my life. Being roommates is more than sharing space; it’s about sharing a life together but without the wining, dining and emotional flutters of a romance. It’s really about the truest and most fundamental human connection – in a word, love.

Natalie Dreyer

Fourth-year political science student