The couples who continue growing expand their curiosity.
One of the greatest dangers to a long relationship is the quiet belief that we already know everything about one another.
We finish each other’s sentences, anticipate each other’s reactions, assume we already know what the other person thinks, feels, or needs, and without realizing it, we stop asking questions. We stop exploring.
Yet people don’t stop evolving. A woman discovers a passion she never knew she had. A man uncovers a tenderness that had been hidden for years. A couple who believed they had reached the end of their story discovers an entirely new chapter waiting for them.
If people continue unfolding throughout their lives, why would we ever imagine we have finished discovering one another?
Curiosity is not simply about asking questions, but a way of standing before another human being.
It quietly says: “There is more here than I can yet see. I am willing to be surprised. I want to understand the world as you experience it.”
When we approach one another this way, beautiful things begin to happen.
Judgment softens, assumptions loosen their grip, and maybe best of all, wonder quietly returns.
This is one of the reasons I love the metaphor of neighborhoods.
Every visit reminds us that there is always another street to walk, another conversation to have, another part of the person we love waiting to be discovered.
Perhaps curiosity is one of the greatest gifts we can offer another human being.
And, curiosity never grows old. And, as long as we remain curious, love continues to have room to grow.