I'm not a princess.

I live with two sisters from North Carolina,

and they love that South, they do.

Today, one of them said,

"If you fall in love with a Southerner,

you'll be very lucky.

He'll treat you like a princess."

And my immediate reaction was,

"Ick.

I don't want to be 

anybody's princess."

She asked me why not,

and I wasn't sure.

So I've been thinking about it ever since.

I realized it's a metaphor problem.

Prince and princess is just not the metaphor

that I would use to describe love.

When I think of princesses,

I think of entitlement.

I think of being the object of the prince's affection,

but not his equal partner.

And that's not it.

When you're in love,

you deeply respect him,

and he you.

He's precious to you,

and you're precious to him.

But not because you're a princess.

Because you're a human.

Because you're you.

I don't think we need a princess metaphor

to understand what love is.