“Tell me whom you love and I will tell you who you are.”*
When I read this post by one of my favorite bloggers, I almost immediately turned away because I’m not someone who likes to blog on that sort of level. I truly didn’t feel I was capable of it and would post a lot of silly nonsense like “I love dancing naked to Queen” or something. But I read through her entire post, captivated. It was this quote that did me in:
“I love the ordinary beauty of my life with its million-trillion flaws and its scary stops and starts and its painful inadequacy and its subtle disappointments and its sometimes falling short and its forcing me to never—not for one teensy-tiny moment—give up on myself, the one person guaranteed to be with me every day of my life.”
I guess you could call this inspired:
I love finding a song that sends shivers down my spine or rekindles my memory in poignant nostalgia. I love merging onto the highway and seeing the other driver(s) move to the next lane for me. I love Christmastime, the lying on my couch in darkness as the lights on the Christmas tree reflect into my eyes. I love finding a new, delicious wine. I love silly romantic movies. I love the part in a movie that causes you to catch your breath, like falling in love for the first time. I love finding new art to hang on my walls. I love reading a good book. I love finding a new favorite song. I love unconditional love and reaping the benefits of unconditional love that has not been betrayed. I love muttering something in a foreign language to find the person nearest me knows exactly what I said and calls me out on it. I love laughing so hard that my ribs start to ache. I love finding why “marina” is called marinara and useless facts like that the “spot” on the 7-Up logo comes from its inventor who had red eyes because he was albino. I LOVE dancing to Queen naked, just sayin’. I love the moment that people sip their wine in candlelight contentment, eyes twinkling over their glass at a quiet moment during dinner. I love when people tell me my accent is strange. I love starting with a plain Microsoft word document and turning it into something amazing. I love receiving new emails from wordpress that someone has commented on my blog. I love waking up at 9 AM on Saturday hearing the town bell chiming from downtown. I love when snow just barely blankets the tree-lined streets on a dark morning. I love lying under my down comforter with a bowl of popcorn and a good movie to keep me company. I love being home alone. I love seeing, for the first time, a smile bloom on the face of an autistic child I’ve worked with for two years. I love proving my prejudices wrong. I love directness. I love fried calamari, pesto and dark chocolate. I love the feel of the sun on my back. I love that I can shock people with stories of my former, unkind self. I love listening to people tell me their stories, how they fell in love, how they decided to move across the world; the bravery in others inspires me. I love being moved to tears by a stranger’s kindness. I love feeling validated in my presence on this earth, that there is a reason I am here, and though it may not be the reasons I expect, I will prove my worth to those who ever doubted me, including myself. I love knowing that those who try to knock me down will not succeed (also including myself).
I love that love means something to me, more than words on paper or words on this blog, that I have not let love become spoiled from people who were sloppy with their handling of my heart.
But most of all, I love that we are taught through example, in infancy, to love without words.
I challenge you to make your own list. The only catch? You can’t include a single person you know on your list. No “I love the way my husband laughs” or “I love hearing my little girl call for me.” It’ll be tough, I know. But this particular little exercise is about stripping away everyone who defines you and figuring out what you (not his partner; not their mother/daughter/sister/friend) love. (I think I technically cheated, but my loves weren’t about the person’s themselves, but the experience.)
*Quote by Houssaye:
Your’s is a rhythmically beautiful prose poem.
Just re-arrange the sentences into paragraphs, and it would be a beautiful POEM poem.
You are a lover indeed.
I have read a lot of these over the last week and this is one of the best. You chose incredible words. I tried to pick a favorite sentence, but I couldn’t — they were all strong/good.
I love that I found your blog.
Hi,
How does one keep from “growing old inside”? Surely only in community. The only way to make friends with time is to stay friends with people…. Taking community seriously not only gives us the companionship we need, it also relieves us of the notion that we are indispensable
What i feel is you love all the things .. and nothing else is left here to mention cute girl
I am working on my Love List!! I hope to post it soon! I really liked yours!
AH, that was nice to read at 9:30am, inspiring and lovely! Some of your posts I find are like a book – you think that it might not be very interesting (I’m not very lovey dovey, I think), but after you read the first couple of lines you become enthralled and can’t stop reading.
Seriously, I’m going to try to write more like you – descriptively and with more passion…
This is so wonderful.
I found you through my flickr page, after I’d posted my list. I LOVE your list. It’s incredible.
I had a tough time reading your post…. u see… i had to take a break…to breath. Your post just took my breath away. I used to ponder if anyone out there thought just like me. Your post made me feel as if i was reading my own post.
Great job in penning your emotions…..
Wow…am impressed..beautiful words…hats off to you…you took my breath away…
This hsit is whack ya’ll. Maybe would have come across as more genuine if your list included “I love writing soppy crap, using fancy language to dress up my empty meaningless words, hoping that some moron would comment and tell me how wonderful i am, when in reality I know that I am a self involved, shallow nobody”. I just hate self-loving bloggers and take upon myself a moral duty to shoot them down. Good day.
For clarity, ‘hsit’ is a typo for ’shit’. Thanking you.
Oh, I did forget to include “soppy crap” and also, “trolls from the Netherlands.” I’m sorry that you have nothing better to occupy your time other than dissing people who have a lot to love about their lives. Thank you for your very self-righteous comment and for achieving your moral duty of insulting people I admire, these morons you say.