Boy is this the age-old question we all ask at some point in our lives! Not only do we want to know what love is, but we also wonder how we know whether what we feel is love. Is there an answer to this question? I saw a post once that said love is feeling with your heart and not your head. Yet, so many of us question, analyze, compare, and contrast, all in an effort to define what just might be undefinable. Some might say if we have to ask the question then we clearly aren’t in love. I disagree. I think many of us ask the question as a means to protect our hearts. You see, if we are able to define it, then there’s no risk because we are going in eyes wide open. But, that’s not how love works……at least not to me. Love is always a risk. It’s putting your heart on the line for another person. It’s saying here you go…..I give it to you…..I choose you. Love is messy and all-encompassing. It’s not being able to define your feelings. It’s just knowing that somehow you’re meant to be connected. Love is unending beauty in the storm of life. It’s feeling safety without reservation. It’s taking risks and accepting the price of those risks. It’s winning the lottery without ever playing the game. It’s stolen moments with flirtatious glances across the room. It’s focused attention in a sea of distractions. It’s feeling like you can’t ever get enough of someone……that magnetic pull that draws two people to choose each other every minute of every day. It’s making that choice even when you don’t want to sometimes. I already know what some of you are thinking. This isn’t love. You’re describing a fairytale. True…..maybe it is a fairytale. I’ve spoken about this before. I’m still not sure why life can’t be like a fairytale. Maybe there’s this piece of me that just needs to learn lessons the hard way. For some reason, I keep getting up and trying even though I am knocked down. Deep inside, I just believe the fairytale exists for me. I don’t know why. I certainly have no evidence whatsoever that it is in the cards for me. But I’ve watched it happen for others, so I think why not me? Natural response, right? Well…..maybe for an eternal optimist. I watched Bachelor in Paradise again tonight…..I know, I know….you don’t have to say it! There was this couple and the woman said goodbye to the man. He was heartbroken and went home. She then realized the next day that she actually made a mistake and has strong feelings for the man. So, she left the beach and flew to the man’s hometown to fight for him and for them. It actually got me thinking…..why is it that sometimes we have to lose something to realize it’s value? Or someone? It seems that sometimes feelings become clear once there’s no longer the pressure of actually being in the relationship. The problem is, you’ve said goodbye to someone amazing……a once in a lifetime…..or someone you now realize was a once-in-a-lifetime. Why can’t we cherish the ordinary that becomes extraordinary? Does every moment need to feel like bliss? Of course not. Anything worth having takes work, time, commitment, sacrifice, energy, and yes, love. It’s not easy. If it’s easy, it’s likely not real……or at the very least, likely not deep. Yeah…….so, what is love? My eternal hopeless romantic self believes it’s a spiritual connectedness that transcends any explanation. It’s an intimate attraction that you simply can’t deny. It’s an intertwining of two intellects that challenge one another. It’s a safety that’s never questioned that allows a depth of vulnerability and trust to make a home inside another’s heart. It’s the unexplainable feelings that you just know are there and form stronger and deeper than anything you’ve felt in life. It’s knowing that the unknown is risky, but a risk worth taking. It’s seeing and feeling beauty in the woven fabric of fractured lives and broken hearts. It’s the desire to pick up the pieces and create a masterpiece of faith, love, passion and intimacy. So yep……Like every woman, I await my knight in shining armor to show up for me…..to knock on my door with flowers in hand and say let’s do this…..let’s assume the risk and see where it takes us……let’s do this thing called love.