What Is Love?

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(baby don’t hurt me – don’t hurt me  no more).

Sorry, I can’t get that song out of my head now since I typed What is love? 

Seriously though, what is love?

My son had his Valentine’s party this year. He had a great time, but he was confused as to why someone gave him an orange among all of the traditional Valentine’s candy that he received. I told him that was their Valentine to him. His response? “Oh, they showin’ their love”. I laughed and responded yes.

And it got me to thinking
– what is love? And how do we show it?

With all relationships, they can hit a rough patch. Because truthfully, relationships take work – lots of work and not just romantic relationships, but friendships, relationships with our family, our church, and the list goes on and on.

And we all know that love is subjective, with a lot of different meanings. And I’ll be honest, most of my life I have hated loathed Valentine’s day. When I was single, I was so jealous of the girls getting flowers, candy, and dates. As a married woman in years past I have still hated this holiday. Either I still didn't get anything, or I didn't get what I wanted, or it was just a let down.

This year? Well this year I could care less. I bought me a box of candy a week or so ago (and ate it one afternoon while Lil Man napped). Honestly, once or twice a year, I just like a box of assorted chocolates. So instead of trying to subconsciously try to tell Hubby or hint to my husband to buy me a box for Valentine’s day, I simply bought myself a box and enjoyed them one afternoon over a peaceful nap.

Will Hubby get me anything this year for Valentine’s day? I don’t know. And I can honestly for the first time ever say that I truly don’t care.

So what is love? 

For me, it changes form as I change through the stages of my life.

It’s giving my son a hug or a kiss, a ‘good job’, encouragement, confidence, patience as we clean up yet another mess, time out of my day, and snuggles while watching a movie. But at this point, most of all, it’s letting him know that I am always there for him and that I do love him unconditionally. 

Sometimes love is the simple daily things in life – such as warming up a taco for your spouse so that they don’t have to get up and do it themselves. Sometimes it’s hauling a bucket of coal up a flight of stairs so that Hubby won’t have to do it once he’s home even if I did spill it and didn't exactly load the coal in right. He appreciated my effort.

It’s my Hubby cleaning the snow off of my car so that I won’t have to, or him giving me a few extra minutes to get a workout in because he knows how important it is to me, or him putting our son to bed because he knows that I have work to do and that it would allow us to have some time together later.

It's also taking time for yourself, and loving yourself and who you are. But this week especially I have found that for me currently  Love is when you put someone else first without expecting anything in return. 

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! 

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