Every Kind of Love

It was a one-in-a-million-chance-of-meeting love story that began in 1980 as May was slipping into June.  He was a brown-eyed handsome man with ostrich leather cowboy boots and an easy, polite way of being.  I don’t know what kind of courage it must have taken to walk over to ask a South Dakota girl to dance, with his slightly Southern drawl; all I know is, I’m glad he did.  Thus began our unlikely long-distance romance with infrequent visits and the exchange of hundreds of letters.  I learned about his love for his family, his character, his humor and loyalty, and his love of the outdoors.  Two years later, in front of God, our families, and friends, I chose him to be my husband and he chose me to be his wife.

While we can only speculate whether there is Love between pairs of swans, eagles, and geese who mate for life, it is evident that they care for their chosen one.

They work diligently together to raise their families–building nests, incubating eggs, hunting for food, and teaching their young.

They are committed partners and companions, even when the road isn’t easy.

I have always said that Valentine’s Day is about Every Kind of Love.  It includes Love for a partner but represents so much more.  It is Love a mother or father has for her/his children–the daily care, the feeding, the teaching, and the letting go.

It is Love for our extended families and for the community of people who live and work with us.

It is Love for our friends–those close to us and those who are far away.

It is Love for our home the Earth and everything she provides for our well-being.

It is Love for the Creator who fashioned this incredible, enchanting world.

Valentine’s Day is also about a very basic, often overlooked kind of Love–the Love for ourselves.  I don’t mean in a narcissistic, I’m-the-best kind of way, but in a deeply nurturing I’m-okay way.  Love for the adventurous explorer in ourselves.

Love for the feisty, I’m-going-to-do-this part of ourselves.

Love for and acceptance of our uniqueness and our idiosyncrasies.

Love for our vulnerabilities and our curiosity.

I am grateful for the nearly thirty-five years with my brown-eyed handsome man, my husband and partner.  But when time or circumstances strip away the driving forces of societal pressure and hormonal intensity to pair up, we are all left with something different, something more.  When the busyness and self-sacrificing of raising a family or caring for parents is over, we need to re-fuel ourselves in some way.  When friends are far away or gone from this earth, we are left alone in the middle of the night with our thoughts and feelings.  When a workplace no longer provides support and daily companionship, we need the courage to be okay with ourselves.  Love encompasses all the stages of our lives and is the container in which we grow and develop, make mistakes, take risks, and learn about the world and ourselves.  Love is the Place we return to again and again.

Happy Valentine’s Day to my husband, my children, my family and friends, and to all you readers of North Star Nature!  Love to you all!