"Love in Action..."

 “If I had a flower for every time I thought of you...I could walk through my garden forever.”

When I was a little girl, at some point, I fell in love with love.

Or so I thought.

 

I had this idea of what I thought love was: it was Harry telling Sally on New Year’s Eve just how much she meant to him; it was Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell jumping ship and swimming toward each other at the end of Overboard; it was Zack Morris and Kelly Kapowski overcoming various obstacles throughout high school and college to end up together in the end; it was Cory Matthews and Topanga Lawrence finally realizing how they felt about one another after years of growing up together; it was Todd placing three different candy hearts that said “Marry me” on them in front of Christy before she finally realized he was proposing (and most of you have probably never read the Christy Miller Series, but you should); it was Squints Palledorous jumping into the deep end of the pool, knowing he couldn’t swim and essentially faking his own drowning all so he could kiss lifeguard Wendy Peffercorn; it was Ariel giving up her beautiful singing voice so that she could become human to spend time with Eric.

 

Obviously entertainment media had a huge influence on my perception of love.

 

Over the years, however, I’ve come to see that love is so much more than my youthful mind could have imagined.

 It’s not just some concept of two people realizing they want to be more than friends.

It’s not just butterflies in your stomach when your dream person enters the room.

It’s not just a feeling.

 

Love is something you do.

 

Tomorrow, February 18th ....is...would have been ....my parents Wedding Anniversary... and I was reminded of why my definition of love changed so drastically as my heart matured. 

I have thought about it all day. 

And as I sat at the ball field watching Bailey ...these words formulated in my head and I could barely wait to get home to get them to this screen. 

My mom...and when I say Mom... I need you to know I am talking about Gina. 

She has one of the biggest hearts of anyone you will ever meet, and she has this unexplainable love for any living being. 

She’s constantly caring for others. 

She's a fixer. 

She is the one who will drop everything just to be there. 

That’s what love does. 

The last 3 years of my Dad's life were not the easiest. I watches as she truly lived out the vow "In sickness and In health". 

But that is not what stands out to me. 

As you read earlier in this blog, I idolized the medias perception of what love was. 

But I had to look no further than my parents for that fairy tale type of love. 

Love is an action. 

Love is waking up an hour early just run your wife's bath water to get it the perfect temperature and brew that pot of coffee ...only then to wake up your beautiful wife.

Every. Single. Morning. 

Love is being involved in a car accident and shielding your husbands body with your own to ensure his incision from his Liver surgery doesn't bust back open. 

Today, while sitting at the ball field....It hit me that my mom is one of the reasons I am such a fan of love—she has always modeled it so purely and in a way that draws others in to her warmth and sincerity. 

She doesn’t want to waste her time bashing others when she can be using it to build people up and use kindness in place of hate. 

That’s what love does.

 

And don’t think that entertainment media can’t also show examples of what love really means: it’s Anna stepping in front of Hans’s sword meant to kill her sister, Elsa; it’s King Triton letting his daughter go and turning Ariel back into a human when he realizes how much she wants to be with Eric; it’s Ross folding his hand of cards and not letting anyone know what he had, because he wanted Rachel to win their meaningless game of poker and to see her happy; it’s Dottie Hinson dropping the ball at the plate so that her younger sister, Kit, could be the hero for once; it’s Lee Brice singing about hating to dance yet twirling the woman he adores around the dance floor; it’s Bruce Willis pushing Ben Affleck out of the way and giving up his own life in Armageddon so that his daughter won’t lose the man she is going to marry; it’s Thomas J. losing his life in My Girl when he has an allergic reaction to hornet stings after he goes to look for his best friend’s mood ring that she lost when the two were playing in the woods; it’s Belle taking the place of her father to live in imprisonment with a seemingly ferocious beast.

 

That’s what love does.

 

I still have my fairytale beliefs of what love is and kissing in gazebos, but I also know that love is more than writing across a screen that says, “…and they lived happily ever after.” 

We have the ability to show love to others every single day if we are willing to take on a little bit of selflessness. 

The greatest act of love this world has ever seen is the epitome of that: grace so big that He died on a cross so that we can live.

 

I love seeing examples of love all around me. It makes my heart smile when I realize that there are genuine people out there who truly want to love others. 

And when I think of my parents and the years they spent together....showing us kids what love really is....I know that through them I learned what love looks like; and because of that...Bailey and Khristian will know what love really is.....and the cycle will continue. 

Love is an action...and their marriage was the epitome of that. 

 

So tomorrow in honor of my parents Anniversary....I ask that not only tell someone you love them....but do so in a manner that they know it from your actions. 

However you choose to do so is up to you....and as I type these final words....know I love all of you.