One of the best parts of life is love. I know it sounds corny and cliché but stay with me here, where would we be without it?
As Hairspray once said,
“Without love, life is like the seasons without summer,
without love, life is rock ‘n roll without a drummer.”
To put it simply we all need love in our lives and it comes in many forms from a variety of people. It can be from a parent, a sibling, a grandparent, partner, friend, roommate, pet the list can continue… Sometimes it isn’t always about grand jesters, it can be small. It can even be from a stranger in a random act of kindness such as the Starbucks pay it forward. Maybe you don’t realize it but there are people who show you love everyday for it can be a friend saying to drive safe or a roommate asking if you’ve eaten.
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The best part about love is that we can choose who we want to have in our lives besides your family. Our friends are chosen, extended family that we collect gradually overtime to be part of our lives. Our romantic partners are our ultimate best friends that we can laugh and have adventures with. If we are lucky we have close relationships with our family and in particular with our siblings (if we have them), even if you don’t have a great relationship with your family there is still a deep love for one another that cannot be broken.
For me, one of the best kinds of love is a love from a pet. It is unconditional. No matter how many times you tell them off for running away with a stray sock or for jumping on the back of the sofa to keep guard out of the window, they will still run to greet you when you walk in the door and give you unlimited kisses throughout the day. In particular dogs know when an extra cuddle is needed without a word being said to them, even if they could understand.
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But do we make an effort to say “I love you” to those that we love often enough?
I don’t think we do. Now, I don’t want to be morbid but we never know what is going to happen. The only thing predictable about life, is its unpredictability. Whenever we have the opportunity to say “I love you” we should take it, it is only a few seconds but it means the world. I’ll never forget the love I saw the day after the Borderline shooting, everyone came together in the church and held one another. Friends supported friends. Faculty supported students and vice versa. The community supported those in need. The love that I saw was beautiful although it came from the saddest of situations but it was raw and bountiful.
In this month of love famously known for Valentines or Galentines Day, tell those you love that you love them and how much they mean to you. Tell them you recognize the small things they do for you whether it is making you smile on a down day, their endless support, or their snapchats that brighten up your day. Appreciate each other. Love them. And consider if there is a small act of kindness you can do to make someone’s day a little brighter.
“In the end nothing we do or say in this lifetime will matter as much as the way we have loved one another” – Daphne Rose Kingma