Love Is_?

Photo-Credit, - OWN Network

Love is_?

OWN Network’s latest show “Love Is_” really touches my soul in a real way. The show produced by super producer couple Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil, depicts their rocky road through love and marriage.  The Akils have given us shows such as “Girlfriends”, “Being Mary Jane” and now this new gem.

“Love Is_” takes us through the life and love changes of Nuri (Mara) and Yasir (Salim). Nuri is a staff writer on the new hit show “Marvin” and has just purchased a new home, but she is struggling to find love in all the hustle and bustle. Yasir is a struggling artist who just recently moved from the Bay in hopes of landing a writing job much like Nuri's. He is currently in a failing relationship with Ruby. The pressures of Yasir not financially able to provide has pushed them apart and in the midst of all this drama, he happens to meet Nuri.

To make a long story short, Nuri and Yasir meet and instantly fall in love. It is love at first sight.

The title of the show is a sentence to be finished, so Love is…..what??  Watching “Love Is_” has taught me a few things about what love truly is:

Love Is Hard: True love isn’t easy, and it is going to come with its fair share of trials and tribulations. It is certainly not a fairy-tale. Nuri will soon find out just how hard it is going to be to love Yasir through all his BS and baggage. He is homeless, unemployed, has a child and still has obligations to Ruby.

Love Doesn’t Care About Your Rules and Standards: As women, we have this long laundry list of who we want our dream man to be. He must look a certain way, dress a certain way and have a certain type of pay-check. Nuri is one of those educated successful Black women that has her checklist. She has to humble herself a bit when she finds out the man she has fallen in love with drives a hooptie lol!

Love Has No Timeframe: Love can truly come out of nowhere and hit you when you least expect it. Nuri met Yasir in a coffee shop and had a brief conversation. One year later they meet again in a furniture store and fall deeply in love with each other after their first date. Her mother and friends both think she is crazy for falling in love with a man she barely knows. She doesn’t even know his last name or much about his past.

Love Hurts: No man or woman is perfect which means they have the potential to hurt you. When Nuri showed up at Yasir and Ruby's home for answers and Yasir closed the door in her face, you could feel the hurt. It's almost like the feelings jumped out of the television and into my soul.

“Love Is_” teaches us to be open and to give someone the benefit of the doubt. It also shows us that the perfect woman or man might not be wrapped and packaged the way you thought it would be.  Your perfect mate maybe flawed and in need of a little TLC and patience. Now don’t get it twisted, “Love Is_” isn’t telling us to run out and be a fool and believe everything someone says just because they seem sincere.  The moral of the story is, be cautious but follow your heart. Really get to know a person to figure out if their heart is pure and their intentions are in the right place.