Why This Shakespeare Quote Speaks to Gen X and Boomers

“For which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me?”
— William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing

This is not a flirtatious question. It’s a dangerous one.

It assumes that love does not begin with perfection—but with flaws noticed, accepted, and quietly chosen.

When we are young, we fall in love with potential. With how someone might change. With who they could become.
But time teaches a different lesson: real love begins the moment we stop editing each other.

Shakespeare understood this long before modern psychology gave it a name. To love someone deeply is to see their rough edges—and stay anyway. Not despite them, but with them.

For Gen X and Boomers, this line lands differently. It carries the weight of years, compromises, and the unglamorous truth that lasting love is not about fixing someone—but recognizing what will never change.

The question isn’t whether they have flaws.
The question is: which ones feel like home?