“I love you.”
Three words, eight letters. A short statement, yet it holds so much meaning. TBH, it took me a long time to write this edition note that encompasses love — there’s so much to discuss on the topic.
Love shows itself in many forms. It’s asking someone to text you once they get home safely. Calling your parents every day or reaching out to a friend you haven’t spoken to in years. Giving flowers or a card to someone having surgery. Having a self-care day so you can focus on you. Sharing your passions and hobbies with others so they get to know you better. Hugging someone extra tightly to show how much you miss them. Letting someone go because they want to work on themselves as an individual so they can love you fully in the future. Paying all the money you can to save your pet’s life in a dire situation.
While I could talk about any of these, my grandparents have my favorite love story — and they’re the reason I believe in true love.
They met at a dance hall in the 1950s. Grandpa walked over to Grandma and asked her to dance. She denied him the first time but gave in the second time he asked. “He didn’t know how to dance!” she recalled. “I just wanted to be with her,” he shared.
When the dance hall closed for the evening, he asked if he could drive her home in his Hudson Terraplane; he didn’t want the night to end. He walked her to the front door, kissed her good night, and…he farted.
After that, they were inseparable.
Grandpa told me he prayed every night for a Hungarian, Catholic girl. “That’s my girl right over there. The one I prayed to God to give me,” he said as he sat two feet away from her in their matching burgundy rocking chairs. They were married for 61 years, but it looked like my grandfather saw his wife for the first time every time he looked at her.
Grandpa had dementia with Lewy Bodies and lost his ability to talk while in hospice care. The doctors gave him two days to live — he lived for another week and we were beyond blessed for that time with him. Before his last breath, he muttered, “I love you, dear” while holding Grandma’s hand.
I am a hopeless romantic because of my best friend, my grandpa. And I choose to love fearlessly and endlessly.
***
What does love mean to you? How do you show it — through words, actions, gifts? Have you been able to fall in love? Have you been scared to express your feelings to someone because you were afraid you’d get hurt in the end? Has love failed you? Have you been damaged by love so much that you’re afraid to let someone into your life again?
And how do you participate? Do those close to you know how much love you have for them? Would you call someone right now to let them know you love them? Your parents, your best friend, the person you were too scared to share those feelings with at a specific time in life?
Better yet, how well have you loved others on this Earth? Does your heart feel content with the love you have shown the world, yourself, relatives, friends, and strangers? Do you choose love over hate every single time you are given the option?
We don’t get to choose when we leave this Earth. But we do get to choose who we love with the one life we have to live. Life flashes before our eyes, and the best thing we can give someone is love. And if tomorrow doesn’t come, then did you love enough within your lifetime? Would people know how deeply you cared about them?
Show someone love every single chance you have. Say it when you leave your parents’ home because it is actually a privilege to return every day. Say it after you have spent a couple hours hanging out with a friend because they have had a rough year and may need to hear those words. The love you showcase to strangers with just a simple grin could be remembered years down the road.
For the next two months, we will be discussing the topic of L-O-V-E. We’ll be sharing mini-documentaries that exhibit love. We’ll be talking about how it shows up differently throughout our lives: family love, pet love, platonic love, romantic love, self-love, and more. We’ll also be answering questions like, “What is love? and “How do we give and receive love?” and “How has love been transformative in your life?”
Join us as we explore and spread love this summer! We all need it, we all deserve it, and we all have a love story to tell.
—Makaela Douglas
Digital Content Strategist
