Why do many people who date expect love to be perfect?

“We’re made for each other”
“Soulmates”
“It was meant to be”

Everything has to fall into place perfectly, and then you know it’s love. If one fault appears, then it can’t be meant to be.

In the rest of life, when we run up against a problem, we try to power through it. We fix it. Or solve it. In dating, it seems to me, by far the prevailing view is that only if it works perfectly in a natural way, without the lovers having to deal with any problems, can it be seen as love. Real love. Soul mate love.

Personally, I always felt that it wasn’t until the first major problem that you could be sure your love was strong enough to have a fighting chance to last.