In most situations, words are my weapon--when it comes to convincing people how to love, though, I don't think that using a weapon is the best approach. If the entire world disagreed with me, arguing wouldn't get me anywhere.
Instead, I would show the people in my life what love really means, day by day. Isn't this what we already have to do? It's not enough to just say the words "I love you" as if they're an obligatory ritual. It's not enough to feel butterflies and passion, because those eventually fade.
Love is sacrifice. Love is patience. Love is putting another's needs before your own.
It doesn't matter how the world might choose to define the word "love." There are already dozens of definitions that exist today. What matters is how we care for people, and how we connect as a result. Even if the world disagreed with how I defined "love," they would still feel the impact of selfless actions and kind gestures, which stem from a caring heart.
Love is more than just a definition.
The Happiest Night I Can’t Remember
I was so happy, but I can't remember much else in the blur of the night. The night he asked me to spend forever with him. Somewhere in that blur I said yes. We hugged. We kissed. Our family surprised me with a celebration.
But I can't recall the moment--the moment he was down on one knee, saying, "Will you marry me?"
I wish I could go back and see it again. Wish I could make myself catalog that moment in my brain forever, so I could replay it on my darkest nights. I know it happened, but it's as if I'm a stranger being told about that night, rather than the one who experienced it.
I would go back to that night and make time slow down just a little bit for us.
Thank You For The Tears
The end of the world arrives, then you wake up the next day and move on. I cried when I realized I had moved on from you. I’d prayed for this resolution for so long, but I’d also played the dangerous game of imagining a future with you. I cried because I could still remember a time when I thought I could rely on you, but you proved me wrong again and again. After we said our permanent goodbye, the seasons changed and the weather turned cold.
But that’s when he appeared. On the coldest nights, he keeps me warm. While you would always shut me out, he pulls me in and holds me tight.
Oh, it hurt to move on from you, but as soon as I did, I found him. The one who will dance with me under streetlights until two in the morning. The one whose love is patient, even when I can hardly speak. The one who holds my future.
Ten years later and I still remember the way you hurt me, but I no longer resent you. No, instead I say thank you for making me move on, because otherwise I would never have met him. Thank you for breaking my trust, so that I could know the value of trusting this man with all of me. Thank you for showing me the most selfish side of love, because I can appreciate his selfless love all the more for that.