2007-04-20

What is Love?

Ahhhh...... Another great trip to Chicago. Waiting in the airport, very sad to go, but very thankful for the time spent there (even tho it was soooooooooo cold).

An amazing time with a close friend and a family I am truly blessed to have in my life. Why so amazing? Becuz not only was I surrounded by happiness and incredible possibility, but I was loved was loved e-x-a-c-t-l-y-a-s-I-a-m and appreciated for e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g-I-d-i-d. And you know there's no better feeling than that. Lot's of love for me!

I felt like a watered and nurtured plant, covered in love and placed in rich soil. When that happens there are no limits to how high one can grow! Of course my mother asked me to shave my nasty looking goatee becuz it covered up her baby boy's pretty plant face, but it grew back quickly, didn't it? Hi Mom!

Actually the clean-shaven look made the trip back to Florida less eventful. On the way up north my plane made a stop in the Charlotte airport. As I was hanging out and talking on the phone, I was carefully watched and surrounded by one, then three, then seven security personnel! I guess they didn't like the goatee look either.

Do I look like a guy who would cause trouble??? No love for me.

But on my way back to sunny and warmmmmm Florida, I got to the airport early, just like I was supposed to (my beautifully ultra-organized older sister would be so proud). Without the goatee people smiled at me and said hello, except for the security guard who thought I was trying to smuggle my coffee in - man that guy gave me a nasty look - "No liquids. No liquids." No love. No love for me.

So, coffee-less and time-full, I sat down and started reading a book. With a noisy family to my left and some stressed-out travelers to my right, I began looking around for a more peaceful spot.

"Hmmmm. All the good spots are taken. I can handle this. Just put your head down and focus."

I did my best to block out the noise as another couple sat down across from me, now being totally surrounded. Within five minutes I felt myself distracted again. But it wasn't stress this time. It wasn't even noise. I was tuning into something else, and I began to have a warm feeling. I thought maybe it had to do with what I was reading so I didn't lift my head. Then it was almost as if someone was telling me to "look up". I didn’t want to ruin my good feeling, so I dismissed it and continued reading.

Then I heard it again, "look up", in the same soft female voice. When I did I only saw a couple across from me sharing a sandwich. Nothing remarkable going on. They weren’t even talking. I started to look away when I began to notice that in the midst of all the talking and movement around them, they were still, just leaning against each other and picking up parts of the sandwich quietly. I noticed how serene they were. My warm feeling grew. They weren’t overly tired, and weren’t overly affectionate, just peaceful, at peace being with each other.

This is love. You are watching love.

I took out my notebook and wrote:

What is love?” at the top and began writing what I was hearing was the answer. With my eyes closed I could feel the closeness between them, and it felt so good that I couldn’t help assume they were married. I finally spoke up and asked them how long.

23 years”, they said.

23 years......A huge modern-day success story! Todd and Angie from Bowling Green, Ohio, are a walking accomplishment of what less than half the country can do. I talked to them for a short while and before my plane boarded I shook their hands, thanking them for sharing their story with me.

As I sat in my seat I took out my notebook and looked at what I had written:

Maybe how the little things are shared is a reflection of how long lives are shared. Maybe it’s how you do the simple things that matter most. Are they done together? Are they appreciated? Are the little things the spouse does appreciated? Is "I'm grateful for you" spoken as often as "I love you?"

I took out my pencil one more time, and wrote:

Maybe "The Secret" to a happy and long marriage is in how you share a sandwich together while waiting for your flight at an airport. Thank you Todd and Angie for showing us that the answers to our problems are all around us, if we'll just “look up” and see them.

(The morning after I wrote this I made a continuation called "Our Children Are Watching"

Copyright © 2007 by Adam Stuart
All Rights Reserved

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