Sweet Sweet "LOVE"

"Sweet"ings!

"Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning" - Anonymous

Like a poker hand, you never know what LOVE has in store for you.

When I was younger  love was a hug & kiss from my god parents (like many others). It was the prayers sent up from my grandmother's lips to God's ears for me and my family. It was my grandfather (RIP) reading the newspaper to me, while I laid on his chest. It was the proud tears of my mother, as I collected my "Student of the Month" award. Love was even the taunting and teasing of sibling rivalry (oh the irony of sibling relationships).

I can recall "adult" conversations (during my youth) between family members where they would speak of "finding" love and cry out for "real" love (Mary J. Blige style). Love was something that was given unto me so freely that I never understood what it meant to "find" it; never could I have imagined what that "real" love was all about, as I thought familial was the extent of how real love could be.
During my adolescence, love became more complex than what childhood views had previously proven. As "lust" masqueraded around in Love's shoes, I felt that there was a game of Russian roulette going on with my heart (hit or miss; either way the outcome was proven to be difficult). Lust was contingent upon what needs and/or wants could be fulfilled (most times for the other person, in my case).

"Do you love me? Circle one.
Yes or No"

As an adult, never could I have imagined that the real love everyone around me (myself as well) was longing to find, would make its appearance to me in the form of an intelligent, jubilant, vibrant, ambitious and tender...

 Nothing will ever compare.

Love is no longer complicated. Love is no longer conditional. Love is not shameful, nor is it measurable!

You give me butterflies!
Michael Jackson - Butterflies 

The dimensions and dynamics of love may change but when it is real and those butterflies they speak of in the movies seem to be the only thing filling your stomach, Love's "magic" has been made apparent.

Those whom have experienced the formation of a loving union know love to be deep, intense, and undying. Love is accepting and appreciative. Love is the eternal truth for all, mother and child, sister and brother, aunt and nephew and lovers. Love is (as it should be) the beginning and the end of all things created in God's image. We are productions of love, who thrive on and reproduce it.

I never knew love until I found my fiance, and I have made a vow to nourish it and keep it safe. I will never hinder or stunt its growth but I will keep it "locked" away.