THOUGHTS: LOVE - WHAT IS IT AND WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

Not just looks, love smells too. The warm musty odor of the grass after a Spring rain...or the coat on a puppy who has just been bathed, and none too happy about it I would guess.

These are also the looks of love, and trust, and caring.

 

From a family portrait to the face of young people graduating, going to their prom,
and glimpsing a TEENY TINY bit of what being an adult heading out into the world feels like...and LOOKS like.

(My thanks to my friends Rene and her family for these WONDERFUL photos of MOMENTS in their lives).

Ever see the look on a young dude's face when he sees his first car? New or not, it is always the same surge inside. Evolution, progress, freedom...the HINT of things to come...and some already in sight.

The look of a young couple embarking on without question one of the MOST MOMENTOUS events of anyone's life. Trust me I know. Getting married is a REALLY BIG DEAL no matter who you are, your ethnicity, your religion, your orientation...but it can get complicated.

 LOVE IS LOVE, FOLKS. GAY STRAIGHT OR SOMEWHERE IN-BETWEEN

But it is NOT just about people to people. Everytime you look at a baby or a new puppy or kitten or foal or turtle even, it grabs your heart...unless yours is made of stone.

Standing on a mountain peak or a tall hill and looking out at the landscape before you, or the raindrops trickling down the window pane. Lightning flashes in the dark night, and each of us has a favorite love...and hopefully a favorite lover.

LOVE IS AS MANY THINGS...as there are people and moments, and puppies. Yup. Love isn't one thing or one moment or one idea or even one person who you fancy. LOVE is EVERYTHING...for God so loved the world that he created us in love and then gave us SO much to fall in love with.

If you do it right, you will NEVER EVER STOP falling in love, with life...your partner, your kids if you have them, pets, and crystal clear chilling mornings looking out the window with a steaming beverage in your cup and the blinding white of the lawn and beyond GRABS you, even if just for a moment. You can almost taste the snow, and feel it's crinkly texture, and yes...you wanna be a kid again making snowmen and laughing and loving the cold and the snow and your friends and siblings and the WONDER of it all EVEN IF you really didn't think about any of it as wonder or wondrous. But it WAS.

The next time you see a snowy landscape or a view from a mountaintop or out over an ocean...stop JUST FOR A MOMENT, and think about what it took to create all that you see...JUST FOR THIS MOMENT, JUST FOR YOU.

There will NEVER be another moment quite like it. THAT IS TRULY MAGIC...
but it is ALSO love.

LOVE. Make no mistake about it, it is not always easy or fun or filled with wonder. Sometimes it is hard. BUT, almost always at the end of the day, it IS worth it.

Go ahead. Hug someone today, right now...go ahead. You will both feel good during and after. If no one is there, hug your pet or...HUG YOURSELF.

That's fun too.

Honest.

I won't tell.
I won't even peek.
Well, mostly. LOL.

Love...it is what LIFE is made of.