Love
Ruby Mckie
Love to me is memories,
Dancing like idiots with my best friends, the Polaroids up on my wall of the people I love, sharing secrets at midnight, laughing over inside jokes, camping trips with childhood friends, shopping sprees, sleepovers and Halloween parties
Love to me is messy,
Crying over someone who doesn’t feel the same, breaking up friendships, letting go, saying goodbye when I want to stay, finding it hard to open up again.
Love to me is a bond,
Finding someone who has the same passions, interests and music taste (of course), giving each other one look and then you know what they’re thinking, leaning on each other with a listening ear and a hand to hold, sitting in a comfortable silence together.
Love to me is a journey,
Learning to cherish myself first, showing gratitude for the small things, accepting myself. Finding a balance by setting boundaries with care, forgiving myself for the past, and living in the present.
Love to me is frightening,
Revealing my vulnerability, shedding the layers of personality, exposing my flaws, being honest and learning as I go along, new and unpredictable
Love to me is essential,
Face-times, Phone calls, Skypes, group chats, family walks all give me back that connection that I miss so much, this pandemic has shown me love differently: through computer screens and social media sites. But still it feels the same, because I’m still filled with that same warm feeling when I see their faces.
Through the phone I can still experience the same messy, frightening love, go on journeys, make new memories and share a bond. I know it’s not the perfect situation, but a quote by Robert A. Heinlein once said, “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”