"If you do not love me, I shall not be loved. If I do not love you, I shall not be loved." - Samuel Beckett

Today I will share some thoughts about love on a day that has everything to do with love for me. Our university is closed for the holidays, so this is not one of my last 100 Mondays and what I write today is entirely personal. I’ll keep myself to my usual 10-11 paragraphs and this is just as well. I could write far too many words about love and a few, well chosen, ones will share better what is in my heart.

On this day, many years ago now, my life began again when there was a knock at my door and love walked in. My best friend stood smiling there and her shining eyes were filled with love for me. It was as if the sun, long missing from my skies, shone down, at last, on fields I had been tilling in hopes that I might someday grow flowers again.

I was like a seed that had been waiting for the warmth of her smile to let me know it was safe again to sprout and grow. The love I had held in my heart for her was free to blossom unafraid. We took the risk of vulnerability together and fell in love. It has made all the difference for me.

Surrounded by her sweet, warm, steady love, I have grown to be a better man. More myself and more the man I want to be. She brought me home to a family I had been estranged from and the distance between us was gone. We made a family of our own and I am so grateful for our two sons, and for the men they have grown to be thanks to her loving care.

I believe there are beloved ones in our lives who we love completely. The love we have for them is beyond any notion of loving any one more or less than the others. While the way we share our love changes to honor the shape of the love we share with each of these, still we love them each completely. In my life, I have her to thank for all of my most beloved ones.

She gave my mother and I back to one another in time to share precious years together. She gave me back my dear sisters. She gave me two beloved sons when I thought my chances for a family were past. Thanks to her, I found two other precious friends who are as close to my heart as all these most beloved ones.

This day, so special to my chosen beloved and I, is also the birthday of one of these two precious friends, and his wife is the other one. There is no man in all the world who I can call friend in quite the same way. I have no brothers, but this wonderful man is more than a brother to me. His lovely wife is just as dear to us. There is no woman except my beloved wife who has been such a special friend to me.

Our friendships bring my darling wife and I such joy, and the four of us have shared so much. The sweetness in life, especially our adventures traveling together, and the joy of watching our families thrive and grow, is all the sweeter for being shared with them, and the trying times easier to bear. I am thinking of them today and wishing him a very happy birthday!

I am so very lucky to have my life, and my heart, filled to overflowing with love shared

with my beloveds. My family and precious friends. I am thankful beyond words to be married to my best friend.

My chosen beloved, I am so grateful that you walked through my door on this day and chose me. My life began again that day and, with you, it is easy to live in joy, peace, and love.

© 2016 James Michael. The text of this work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0