The word ‘relationship’ can be cut into 2 pieces.
‘Relation’ is the piece that comes from relating, the Latin relatus, which means ‘being related by blood or marriage’. It has grown into being related.
And then there’s the ‘-ship’, that comes from Anglo-Saxon language and is described as ’to create, ordain, appoint’. Work.
The above I distill as follows.
When we created language, we knew that to be related by something else than blood or marriage, we had to work.
To show up and create, plan, and make sure that it becomes.
No wonder people compare relationships with plants and trees, that you have to treat carefully and it takes time to grow.
Any relationship is created by – and I believe as strong as – the work that is put into it.