A relationship, like a good book, requires staying power for it to reveal its charm, its mystery, pull you in a pain you can neither bear nor let go of, to enthrall you with delights unperceived and to invite you to be part of a world hitherto unknown. But the greatest gift of a relationship, as of a good book, is a deep longing to come closer to one's own self, to somehow learn about oneself through another, and in the process become one with that which until that point was the other. It's a journey of love.