A few years ago, a beloved friend asked me if love was worth the risk of loss. At the time, I was going through a divorce and getting out of bed every day was a battle of will for me; however, the question was serious and deserving of a serious answer, so I thought about it carefully.
And then I answered, yes.
Yes, it is.
At the time, I put my answer in a hypothetical, what-if-it-ended-tomorrow scenario and said, Look, here’s the deal. No one ever gets to the end of her life and says, oh, I’m so glad I didn’t take any chances. What a relief that I have reached this place with a heart that I kept safe under lock and key, without exposing it to the wild unknown, without running the risk of what if, what might be.
Yes, she said. Yes, that’s what I think too.
…
I should probably admit here that I didn’t know I believed it until I heard myself saying it.
…
The older I get, the more I realize that life is such a tremendous gamble, and that the people that I love and admire the most are the ones who look at the odds, see that they are stacked against them, laugh out loud and charge forward.
My friend? She’s the most valiant woman I know. She moved forward into the unknown and, frankly, found something incredible – a love so genuine, so real, that it made everyone around her a little better for seeing it.
Not everyone would have that kind of courage, but she does.
She’s amazing.
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She was with her beloved when he passed away last week.
In the aftermath of that loss, she has been the embodiment of grace.
…
I still believe that love is worth the risk, perhaps because I also believe this to be true: nothing and no one loved is ever truly lost. You carry those you have loved and the love they gave back to you. It stays in your heart; it shines like a sun when the days seem to stretch darkly before you, it warms you when the world feels cold. Love is a summer day in a winter season. It is a beautiful, inexplicable, amazing gift.
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Blessings to you, my friend. Blessings and love.
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