LOVE, Letter from the Editor

LOVE, Letter from the Editor

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, echoed the sentiment of all of us when she said, “Personally, I love a good love story.” Ali McGraw melted our hearts when she told us, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” James Joyce had us utterly confused when he explained, “Love loves to love love.”

Regardless of the words, love is truly a universal language, and there’s nothing as compelling or entertaining as reading about love. And this means any kind of love: romantic love, familial love, and, my personal favorite, self-love. There’s something so intriguing about the kind of love that is so passionate it makes our hearts move, or the love that makes us feel close to someone in a way that it would physically hurt us to see him, her, or them in pain. Life is truly so much more meaningful and worthy when we feel any kind of love for someone, when we have a deep desire to show someone this love through words and actions, and make them feel this love in the same way we feel it. So sure, love hurts, love scars, but perhaps the Beatles said it best when they sang, “All you need is love.”

This time around, Iris is happy to present its Love Issue, an edition dedicated to the feeling that brings us passion, pain, confusion, contentment, and all around happiness at the same time. Elizabeth offers us a hilarious quiz that tests our outlook on love; are we cynics, destined to detest love forever, or hopeless romantics intent on finding love at every corner? Maeve gives us her top reasons why she’ll never get married, challenging tradition and opening our eyes to what it means to truly love yourself above anything else. Laura discusses the importance of distinguishing “love” and “like," reminding us that there is strength in knowing the difference and beauty in experiencing both. Bel brings us a thoughtful essay on love in the media, understanding that the people we celebrate are just as fragile and as temperamental as we are when it comes to relationships. Marwah gives us a look at her own take on weddings and how these increasingly extreme and outlandish events can overshadow the true meaning of this union.  Finally, I discuss my own thoughts on love, and offer a reminder to see self-love as an invitation to never settle for anything less than what you deserve. 

So as we finish out February and welcome March, Iris invites you to spend one last time entertaining the various forms of love that we will come across in life. The love we experience when we find that person who loves Sunday afternoon naps just as much as we do. The love we seek in our mothers and fathers when we need some kind of reassurance that we aren’t total failures. The love we find in the TJ Maxx clearance section when our favorite self-tanner is dirt-cheap and hasn’t been tampered with at all. The types of love that remind us that there is no greater force on this earth than the connection between people and the willingness to open our hearts to the possibility of finding something honest and meaningful in every person we meet.