A Day of Flowers, Cheap Chocolate, and the DREADED velvet Teddy Bears...oh and LOVE
February 14th. Valentine's day. You can probably gage my opinion on this day from the title..I'm not a huge fan. I will admit, it is due in part to the fact that I've had only two valentines. One way back when in middle school and one a bit more recent but for time concerns and my sanity we won't discuss the second right now.Don't get me wrong, my middle school valentine was great! He got me a cute card and an adorable velvet stuffed tiger. Here is a fun fact though, I absolutely HATE velvet. I can't tell you exactly where and when this started (apparently I had a jacket with velvet cuffs on the sleeves when I was maybe 3 or 4 and refused to wear it until the cuffs were rolled so I couldn't feel them) but it is a serious dislike! So I'm not a fan of the cheesy gifts that come with the day.
I am a fan of the concept of love though. You may be a bit confused. If I only had two valentines that means I've most likely only had those two relationships (and one being in middle school does it even count?!) which then means I wouldn't really know much about love right?!
Well here is the thing, I'm not talking solely about the can't breathe, can't sleep, reach for the stars, over the fence, world series type of love as they so awesomely describe it in It Takes Two! No I'm saying I'm a fan of Love in general. Let me explain a bit better. I have come to find Love to be such a fluid feeling. By this I mean there are so so sooo many types of Love out there today that we can't begin to name them all and put them into words. Let me list a few that I am blessed to have experienced during my childhood alone:
<3 Love of a Mother and Father
<3 Love for your brother
<3 Love of a pet who is like a family member
<3 Love for a godchild (one of the best kinds of love in my opinion)
<3 Love of a sport and the feeling you get when playing it
<3 Love of a season and the memories it brings.
I could honestly go on forever with this list and even though each item that I say I love is very different, I still consider the feeling to be Love. Some people say we overuse the word Love in today's society. That we have taken away the true meaning of such a sacred feeling. I'm sorry but I don't agree. I think we have become more open minded and emotional as a whole (although there is a LONG ways to go). We go around getting to know people before judging them. We experience life rather than just go through motions. These changes have allowed us to be open to more Love and all types of it! Just because you hear the word much more today than ever doesn't take away the meaningfulness behind the feeling.
So when I said I am a fan of Love I meant it! I'm not overusing the word. I have been extremely blessed and can say that I LOVE so many things in life. As before I'm just going to list a few and only a few, because I can go on forever, that I feel need to be recognized:
<3 Love for my family (my mom, dad, brother, cousins, and especially my gorgeous girl Ava Lu!)
<3 Love of my professions (I have found my passion and I am doing my best to change the world a bit at a time while teaching and working at camp... I mean this is LOVE!)
<3 Love of my Scooters (I mentioned love of a sport before and I found a new one in college. Rugby is amazing but even more important were the girls that I met that became my sisters!)
<3 Love of my Woodlands Creatures (This right now may be one of my greatest loves. If you know anything about me, you know that The Woodlands and the people there have changed my life for the better in so many ways. I will forever love everything about this place)
<3 Love of myself ( I recently posted a status that said " When you know yourself you are empowered. When you accept yourself you are invincible". Tina Lifford wrote this. I don't know who this lady is but I like her. I would like to add something to that statement though. "When you love yourself, you are infinite". I have begun to do all of the above and it is the most beautiful feeling. I couldn't have done it without my friends. I have learned to love myself because they have loved me.)
If you made it to this point in the post I thank you. I know that it was a lot to read but I am a firm believer that it is essential to share your thoughts and feelings with others (I mean how can we all learn if not from each other?!). Tomorrow when you think about Valentine's Day, I hope you think about the Loves you have in your life and let them know! You never know who Loves you back =)
I am a fan of the concept of love though. You may be a bit confused. If I only had two valentines that means I've most likely only had those two relationships (and one being in middle school does it even count?!) which then means I wouldn't really know much about love right?!
Well here is the thing, I'm not talking solely about the can't breathe, can't sleep, reach for the stars, over the fence, world series type of love as they so awesomely describe it in It Takes Two! No I'm saying I'm a fan of Love in general. Let me explain a bit better. I have come to find Love to be such a fluid feeling. By this I mean there are so so sooo many types of Love out there today that we can't begin to name them all and put them into words. Let me list a few that I am blessed to have experienced during my childhood alone:
<3 Love of a Mother and Father
<3 Love for your brother
<3 Love of a pet who is like a family member
<3 Love for a godchild (one of the best kinds of love in my opinion)
<3 Love of a sport and the feeling you get when playing it
<3 Love of a season and the memories it brings.
I could honestly go on forever with this list and even though each item that I say I love is very different, I still consider the feeling to be Love. Some people say we overuse the word Love in today's society. That we have taken away the true meaning of such a sacred feeling. I'm sorry but I don't agree. I think we have become more open minded and emotional as a whole (although there is a LONG ways to go). We go around getting to know people before judging them. We experience life rather than just go through motions. These changes have allowed us to be open to more Love and all types of it! Just because you hear the word much more today than ever doesn't take away the meaningfulness behind the feeling.
So when I said I am a fan of Love I meant it! I'm not overusing the word. I have been extremely blessed and can say that I LOVE so many things in life. As before I'm just going to list a few and only a few, because I can go on forever, that I feel need to be recognized:
<3 Love for my family (my mom, dad, brother, cousins, and especially my gorgeous girl Ava Lu!)
<3 Love of my professions (I have found my passion and I am doing my best to change the world a bit at a time while teaching and working at camp... I mean this is LOVE!)
<3 Love of my Scooters (I mentioned love of a sport before and I found a new one in college. Rugby is amazing but even more important were the girls that I met that became my sisters!)
<3 Love of my Woodlands Creatures (This right now may be one of my greatest loves. If you know anything about me, you know that The Woodlands and the people there have changed my life for the better in so many ways. I will forever love everything about this place)
<3 Love of myself ( I recently posted a status that said " When you know yourself you are empowered. When you accept yourself you are invincible". Tina Lifford wrote this. I don't know who this lady is but I like her. I would like to add something to that statement though. "When you love yourself, you are infinite". I have begun to do all of the above and it is the most beautiful feeling. I couldn't have done it without my friends. I have learned to love myself because they have loved me.)
If you made it to this point in the post I thank you. I know that it was a lot to read but I am a firm believer that it is essential to share your thoughts and feelings with others (I mean how can we all learn if not from each other?!). Tomorrow when you think about Valentine's Day, I hope you think about the Loves you have in your life and let them know! You never know who Loves you back =)
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