February 12, 2010

As a writer I’ve been asked over the years to write Valentine ‘isms’ for friends, and lovers and soul mates. It hasn’t always been an easy job. But it has given me time and occasions to think about ‘love’ and what it really means. Not all that fluff that comes with Valentine’s Day although I’m the first to admit that I love all that stuff – cards, flowers, chocolates – it’s nice to be remembered.

But to me, love is the passionate and abiding desire on the part of two or more people (as in family) to produce together conditions under which each can happily exist, and spontaneously express one’s real self. Love is to produce together an intellectual soil and an emotional climate in which each can flourish, far more superior to what either could achieve alone.

Love is recognizing and accepting faults but loving in spite of them. It’s sharing dreams and working together to turn those dreams into realities. Love is quick to forgive; it’s being there for one another. It’s watching a movie you really hate because you love someone more. It is in loving, not in being loved, that the heart is truly blessed.

Bless someone this Valentine’s weekend – let them know they are loved!