I mean, maybe somewhat less when we speak of familial love -- mostly, we can feel relatively safe with loving our parents, our kids, even our siblings -- at least, safe in the knowledge that they're not going away or anything.

But we can't ever really know that about others, can we? Especially if we're talking romantic love. The fact of the matter is, sometimes things get complicated. Sometimes, some relationships suddenly go cold, where before they were all passionate and fiery. Sometimes, two people who were quite attracted to one another just start irritating the living shit out of each other.

And the simple fact is, no matter how cautious or bright we might be, no matter how magnificently things might start, we just can't see if something like that is coming. Life has this tendency to surprise you, so of course love will have the same tendency as well.

The balancing part of that, I would think, is that you can be as pleasantly surprised as you can be horrifically surprised. I'll grant, in the popular estimate the ugly surprises in a romantic relationship tend to stick with us somewhat more than the good ones. But really, isn't that more a matter of perspective than of experience?

We know that there's good and bad ... and we know, therefore, that risking our heart by loving someone makes it possible for that person to really hurt us. But, if we stick to a way of being that cuts out any chance of being hurt -- well, we also cut out the chance to really love, or be loved by someone. And is the trade worth it?

I don't know. The longer I live, the more I'm aware that I just don't know all that much.

Somebody out there got all the answers to life and love?