It was June, and I was on a flight from Austin to Philadelphia for a conference. The couple in front of me—probably in their mid-60s—caught my attention. Not in a way that I meant to stare, but in a way that made me admire them.

They were so in love—not just comfortable, not just together out of habit, but genuinely, playfully, beautifully in love. She fell asleep on his shoulder, and when she woke up, he hugged her and whispered, “You’re so beautiful.” They laughed, shared chips, kissed—nothing showy, just natural, effortless intimacy.

It made me think about love—what shapes it, what sustains it, and why, for some, it feels so natural, whereas for others, it’s a battlefield. I used to believe love like that was reserved for youth, that passion faded with time. But clearly, I was wrong. Love—real, enduring love—is possible at any age. It just depends on the people, on what they bring to the relationship.

Because love isn’t just about who we meet—it’s about who we are when we meet them.

Our first experiences with love come long before our first relationship. They form in childhood—in the ways we were held—or not. In the ways we were comforted—or left to soothe ourselves.

For Person A, childhood was........

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