because I have nowhere else to post this, but I love it:

from Elizabeth Gilbert's Committed:

" 'Do you still love me?' I asked.
'Still,'  he confirmed.
'How?' 

Because this is the essential question, isn't it? I mean, once the initial madness of desire has passed and we are faced with each other as dimwitted mortal fools, how is it that any of us find the ability to love and forgive each other at all, much less enduringly?

Felipe didn't answer for a long time. Then he said, 'When I used to go do down to Brazil to buy gemstones, I would often buy something they call 'a parcel.' A parcel is this random collection of gems that the miner or the wholesaler or whoever is bullsh*tting you puts together... He's trying to unload his bad gemstones on you by packaging them together with a few really good ones.'

'So when I first started in this jewelry business,' Felipe went on, 'I used to get in trouble because I'd get too excited about the one or two perfect aquamarines in the parcel, and I wouldn't pay as much attention to the junk they threw in there. After I got burned enough times, I finally got wise and learned this: You have to ignore the perfect gemstones. Don't even look at them twice because they're blinding. Just put them away and have a careful look at the really bad stones. Look at them for a long time, and then ask yourself honestly, 'Can I work with these? Can I make something out of this?' Otherwise, you've just spent a whole lot of money on one or two gorgeous aquamarines buried inside a big heap of worthless crap.'

'It's the same with relationships, I think. People always fall in love with the most perfect aspects of each other's personalities. Who wouldn't? Anyone can love the most wonderful parts of another person. But that's nto the clever trick. The really clever trick is this: Can you accept the flaws? Can you look at your partner's flaws honestly and say, 'I can work around that. I can make something out of that.'? Because the good stuff is always going to be there, and it's always going to be pretty and sparkly, but the crap underneath can ruin you.'

'What I'm trying to say, darling, is that I've been watching you carefully for a long time already, and I believe I can accept the whole parcel.' "

pg 129-130