A Valentine For You

For ourselves and for the younger members of the Family, I thought this a good way to show them that we don't simply have boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives-- love, they should know, is a hell of a thing.

To be true, we can take a snapshot of all the couples in our family right now and see all kinds of love.

Love that is young and fresh, the awkward kind where you are finding out what each other is truly like, and get worried at the first sign of a fight, the first time you say that four letter word, and all the other firsts that go with it. It's a love that wants to hold hands all the time, that wants to show off for each other, and that tends to act before it thinks. And it's where you can't help but be excited at the thought of doing everything together -- and wonder what's next.

We can see love that is mature, love that is taking steps toward marriage or within a few years of marriage. This is the love that has decided that though there are things that may not be perfect, those little things are what make the relationship interesting. This love doesn't sweat the small stuff by any means. It's a love that is forced to take life and being busy into account. It is strong, and at the same time it still feels shiny and new-- like something you care for when you're not sure what can happen next.

And we can see that love that is life long, and that loves beyond life itself. We see two people who know each other better than anyone else. Two people who have been through it all, who have dealt with the ups and downs, who have seen each other in the most vulnerable ways, and seen more sides of humanity than others can dream. This is the love of a life worth living. This is love celebrated in decades, with children and grandchildren, with memories of old houses and apartments, of friends who came and went, a love you could write books about. This love isn't about what happens next-- this love is heaven on earth.

Yeah, we can see all of this in our own family. That's why I wanted the pictures from y'all, so we could see it for ourselves. But that's no matter. Just take a look around you at the next barbecue, or the next holiday, or the next visit to someone's house-- or look around where you sit right now.

So even though I didn't get the response I was hoping for, you'll see an unfinished product. I hope to actually finish this some day soon. So please, keep trying to find those pictures you like, and I can make this something we can be proud of.

Here is what I was going for, an unfinished Valentine's Day gift to all of the couples in our family. Make sure you have the volume on your speakers on. Here's to you...