The Extents of Love

I know I can't know all the things there are to know about love. No one really can claim they know everything about it. Love is ever changing, ever growing, and to keep up and say you know all the twists and turns, to say that you understand all the instances, to claim you know all about love...is crazy. But then again I'm not saying that...am I? No, I'm not. What I am going to write about though is what I do know about love.

Love is (as said in the dictionary) to have a deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward someone....to have a feeling of intense desire and attraction for a person. But sitting here thinking about love itself and all it's complexities, those simple words don't seem to be enough for such a word with such a meaning...love.

Love is something you can't control. You can't just simply look at someone and say "Hmmm...ok, well, I'm going to love them." Hah. Like that would happen. Sometimes I think people don't even know why they love, except for the small yet obvious reason that the feeling comes and there it is. In plain sight. Full-blown, unexplainable, unavoidable, magnificently hypnotising love. And just as you can't make it happen, you can hardly make it stop either. Sure, I know that some people fall in and out of love. It happens too. But the whole idea of forcing yourself to not love..of forgetting about the love you possess with another is absurd. Not possible - in my book.

Love is entrancing, and you can't hide from love. You can't lie to it, it sees through lies. You can't cheat it either, because cheating love is like cheating death, impossible.

And what of love? The passion, the glory, the tender affection of a love is unequaled. Head-over-heels, completely sunk in, love grabs you up in a whirlwind of color, taking you up to the stars and over the moon. It can leave you deliriously happy or in a depressive, melancholy state of being.

But love is not just about that rush you get when they hold your hand, it's not just about that one moment before the kiss, as you both linger in each other's arms, breath bated, waiting for someone to make the inevitable move. Love is about being accepted. It's about being taken in completely as you are. Love is seeing all your little flaws, your imperfections, as well as your assets, and learning to accept a person fully. It is being accepted, and accepting another. And in turn, it's about faith. Knowing that person, loving that person, also puts faith and trust in that person. Reaching out to hold their hand and then them accepting it is one thing. But the faith it took for you to put your hand forth in the beginning? Another sign of love.

Loving someone can be intoxicating, so rich and thick it almost takes on a life of its own. Everything you do is filled with that love you own for your "other". Maybe at times you can become overwhelmed by the power of love, wanting to rush to the closest, highest mountain top, screaming and admitting to all the world of your love. Maybe all you need is to whisper it softly, gently into their ear, like a breeze that kisses the cheek on a summer evening.

And love can happen anywhere. On a beach at sunset, at a football game, your own backyard or the grocery store. It can happen with a thousand yellow daisies, a bouquet of sharpened pencils, a folded up note, or tiny, solitary ring. Symbols of hearts with arrows, love letters, blown kisses and a single red rose; a song, a book, a look or a smile. Just to catch the eye of that person can stop one's breath, and the rest is history.

I'm not an expert on love. In fact, some could say I have no business talking of such things.

But I know what's in my heart, and I know that when I think of him, my whole world becomes a kaleidoscope of color and light. I know I can say I'm accquainted with love, and no matter how complicated, confusing, head-turning or crazy it is, I know what love is.

Love is not knowing. Love is not confusion. Love is not jealous, and it is not greedy. Love is not given easily, or thrown away with contempt. Love is...just love.....