Love Challenge: Valentine's Day

Love is like a campfire: It may be sparked quickly, and at first the kindling throws out a lot of heat, but it burns out quickly. For long lasting, steady warmth (with delightful bursts of intense heat from time to time), you must carefully tend the fire.

~ Molleen Matsumura

I was all set to write a long blog today. After all, it's Valentines Day, a day set specifically aside for declarations of love. And I could. I really could write lists and lists of all the things and all the people I love. And if I took the time, I could probably write something that would make people cry. But here's the truth. Even for a writer, there are some things words can't express.

Words can't express how my kids carry the jar that holds my last breath. Or how my husband is not only my sturdy oak, but also the soil, water and sunshine.

And my family--in all their various personalities, beliefs, and circumstances--is a parachute that always opens.

Or my friends who are like the milk in my cereal because I could probably live without them, but my life is so much better with them in it.

And all the people who have walked in and out of my life and helped make me into the person I am. Who have inspired me and supported me and loved me--even when I didn't deserve their love.

No, words can't express the way I feel. Not today. But I love them all anyway. They're characters in the story of my life.

And so I dedicate it to them.

With all of that, how can I not believe in happy endings?