Musings on Love This First Day of June!

June 1, 2010 The month of love.


What is love? According to psychologists, it is a cognitive process: “intimacy, commitment, and passion.” In the Bible it is “patient and kind.” Also, in an ancient proverb love is defined as a high form of tolerance. Love also includes compatibility and a recognition of the need for space. Love is caring for the other’s needs above one’s own—to a limit. Love sees no end in sight. Love is being there. It is being there even when you’re apart. In literature, it is the “depth and breadth and height my soul can reach when feeling out of sight.”

So, how does one know when he/she is in love? That is the eternal question. So many emotions masquerade as true love: sexual pleasure, physical need, emotional dependence, a desire for security, companionship, familiarity, a fear of loneliness.

How does one KNOW? Is love without anger, disappointment, suspicion, resentment, fear of losing? Is love the thread that keeps couples together when they have grown distanced from each other? Is love history? Is it a mental connectedness? Is it a bond of children?

Love is caring about tomorrow as much as today. Love is an invisible thread woven into the fabric of togetherness. Love is forever, no matter what the circumstances. Actions can be forgiven if love exists. Love caresses the giver and the receiver with the same warmth and protection. Love comes from the heart, passes through the soul, convinces the mind, and activates the body. Love is.

Those who have found love are gentler, kinder, more at peace.

I want to love and be loved. But, will I recognize it when it passes into my life—before it leaves me questioning, “What is this thing called love?”

Heading to Italy!

Time to travel again--this time, purely for pleasure. Neighbors and I have rented a villa in Cortona for June/July. Plans include side trips to the Florence galleries, Venice canals, Cinque Terre views, and Pompeii ruins. My sons will come over for a week...what fun! All the wine we can drink, all the olive oil we can use, and all the sunshine by the pool we can handle! Life is beautiful.